Washington(Sputnik) — Senators from US President Barack Obama’s Democratic Party on Tuesday defeated a Republican bill that would defund President Obama’s immigration reforms, while providing funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to the Senate’s Democratic group statement.
“The Senate began a 15 minute roll call vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R.240, Department of Homeland Security Appropriations,” the statement published Tuesday said. “Not Invoked: 51-48.”
Fifty-one Republican Senators voted in favor of the bill, while 48 Democrats opposed it, leaving Republicans short of the 60 votes needed to move the bill toward adoption, according to an announcement on the Senate’s website.
With the current DHS budget set to expire on February 27, Republicans hoped to exchange fresh DHS funding for a repeal of President Obama’s immigration reforms, which he implemented through executive actions last year.
“At its core, this debate is about whether Democrats think presidents, of either party, should have the power to simply do what they want,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, said in a statement Tuesday. “And while this is about more than just President Obama, it’s also true that President Obama has repeatedly reached beyond his authority.”
US Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid explained his decision to vote against the bill in a Twitter post.
President Obama’s immigration reforms shield millions of undocumented migrants from deportation. Republicans oppose it on the grounds that it threatens the economy and national security.
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