Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) can count on the vote of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on his new standalone bill to overturn President Barack Obama’s 2014 immigration actions, but only after a “clean” Homeland Security funding bill passes, according to his office.
Manchin spokesman Jonathan Kott said in an email Tuesday that the senator would want both the Senate and the House to pass DHS funding legislation first.
Manchin said recently he would refuse to link the immigration provisions to DHS funding, but said when asked that he would support standalone legislation to block the president’s executive actions on immigration.
“Sure,” he told reporters earlier this month. “Yeah.”
“I agree the president overstepped. I’m fine [with a standalone bill]. I’ll vote,” Manchin said, adding that he would refuse to support linking it to DHS funding because “the security of our nation is too important.”
On Monday, facing implacable Democratic opposition, McConnell moved to de-link DHS funding from the immigration proposals and released a separate bill that reverses Obama’s latest immigration initiatives.
If McConnell keeps the 54 Republicans in line, he’ll need 5 Democrats along with Manchin to defeat an inevitable filibuster.
DHS funding expires on Friday and the path to avoiding it remains murky — there could still be a shutdown. But McConnell’s move on Monday is the first step toward ending the stalemate.
