Spotlight: DHS gets 7 more days before shutdown, shows U.S. leadership deficit

The U.S. Congress on Friday passed a seven-day funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), saving it from a partial shutdown at midnight.

The House voted 357-60 to give the Congress another week to figure out a longer-term funding solution for the DHS, once again showing the U.S. political brinksmanship that reflects the nation's leadership deficit.

The Senate passed the one-week extension funding bill hours earlier, and President Barack Obama is expected to sign it soon.

The week-long funding bill came after a defeat for House Speaker John Boehner earlier Friday. The House failed to pass a three-week extension bill as 52 Republican and almost all Democrats voted against the measure.

Conservative Republicans called the bill a cave-in to the White House because it did not block Obama's executive orders on immigration. House Democrats then helped GOP leaders in the vote to pass a one-week extension on a second try late Friday.

Before the House voted on the seven-day bill, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to her fellow Democrats to back the one-week measure, saying they would have the opportunity to support a one-year "clean" funding bill next week.

Earlier this month, the House passed a funding bill that would also block Obama's 2014 immigration policies. The bill had been repeatedly blocked by Senate Democrats, who demanded a clean DHS funding bill.

To break the Senate stalemate, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell earlier this week offered a two-vote plan, which entailed a clean DHS funding bill and another separate bill focusing on Obama's immigration policies.

The days-long political battle was triggered by House Republican efforts to use the DHS spending bill to block funding for Obama's executive orders on immigration.

Without the week-long funding bill, the DHS would run out of money at midnight Friday. As a result, 30,000 department workers would be granted a temporary leave while another 200,000, regarded as essential, would have to work without pay till the disputes were solved.

The DHS, founded after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, consists of the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, the Transportation Security Administration and Immigration, customs and emergency management authorities. Endi