Every rag in the beltway has opined on how President Obama’s executive actions on immigration will play out in the 2016 elections. But it was Homeland Security chief Jeh Johnson on Tuesday that provided the most concrete electoral consequences of the immigration fight.
“We’re back in a presidential election cycle. I cannot hire new Secret Service agents, until I get an appropriations bill passed by this Congress,” Johnson told lawmakers during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing.
He was reacting to a strategy being laid out among Congressional Republicans to thwart the president’s recent actions by constraining funding to the Department of Homeland Security, the agency in charge of immigration enforcement as well as the Secret Service.
All government agencies run out of funding on December 11th, unless Congress passes a new spending resolution before then.
The question is whether or not lawmakers will pass a spending bill that lasts through all of fiscal year 2015. Or, in hopes of sabotaging immigration actions, pass just a short-term funding measure that expires early next year for a new Republicans-dominated congress to pick up.
A choice to fund the Department of Homeland Security through only short-term appropriations measures could hamper the president’s plans on immigrations.
But Johnson warned this could have unintended consequences beyond tying the President’s hand, and could affect his agency’s ability to protect future presidential candidates.
“I know that there are some contemplating some form of CR for the Department of Homeland Security to get us to March,” Johnson said. “That is…a very bad idea for homeland security.”
Johnson also said a short-term funding bill will limit his agency’s ability to fund “enhanced detention capabilities” in Texas and other immigration enforcement actions.
On Tuesday morning, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters, “No decisions have been made at this point” on how to proceed with a continuing resolution.
Watch Secretary Johnson’s message to lawmakers below.
