2nd LD Spotlight: Partisan wrangle over DHS funding bill shows U.S. leadership deficit

The U.S. government's image as an omnipotent world leader came under question again late Friday, although the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) avoided a partial shutdown at midnight.

President Barack Obama signed a funding bill for the DHS after both the Senate and House of Representatives voted to give Congress another week to figure out a longer-term funding solution for the agency.

The week-long funding bill came after the House failed to pass a three-week extension bill as 52 Republicans 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 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 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, founded after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, 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.

Friday's incident once again showed the U.S. political brinksmanship that reflects the nation's leadership deficit.

On Oct. 1, 2013, a wrangle between the Republican-led House of Representatives and the Democratic-controlled Senate over a bill to fund the U.S. federal government failed to produce a deal before midnight, when the country's 2013 fiscal year expired, thrusting the government into the first partial shutdown in 17 years.

In days leading up to the deadline, the House GOP leaders had attempted to defund or derail the implementation of Obama's healthcare overhaul, also known as Obamacare, in the funding bill for the federal government, but the Senate had rejected all the changes in the House versions of the bill, also insisting on a "clean" resolution.

In December last year, the U.S. Senate approved a 1.1-trillion-U.S.-dollar spending bill for fiscal year 2015 after saving the government from shutting down again with a temporary extension of federal funding.

Despite the seven-day funding bill for the DHS, partisan fights on Obama's controversial immigration policies are expected to continue.

The president's move to launch immigration policies, which would shield as many as 5 million illegal immigrants from deportation, drew anger last year from Republicans who immediately blasted him for acting unconstitutionally.

Although a recent federal court injunction against Obama's immigration executive actions have made a growing number of Senate Republicans support the passing of a clean DHS funding bill, conservative Republicans were encouraged to stay on their fight to address what they see as a power overreach. Endi