Stalemate over Homeland Security funding, immigration deepens

WASHINGTON  — A congressional stalemate over funding for the Homeland Security Department deepened Thursday as Senate Democrats blocked action on the bill for a third straight day to protest Republican language on immigration.

“This is like Groundhog Day,” Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, complained on the Senate floor after the measure failed to advance. The vote was 52 to 47, eight short of the 60 needed to move ahead. Two procedural votes earlier in the week yielded similar outcomes.

Homeland Security funding will lapse Feb. 27 without action.

The legislation, passed last month by the House, funds the agency through the remainder of the budget year while reversing President Barack Obama’s administrative policies protecting millions of immigrants living in this country illegally from deportation.

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