Boehner challenges Dems with a curse

Speaker’s language tied to bill, Obama’s executive actions.

WASHINGTON — House Speaker John Boehner challenged Senate Democrats on Wednesday to “get off their ass” and pass a bill that would fund the Homeland Security Department and restrict President Barack Obama’s executive moves on immigration.

The Ohio Republican’s comments seemed unlikely to change Senate Democrats’ behavior. But they underscored a worsening stalemate on Capitol Hill, with funding for the Homeland Security Department set to expire Feb. 27.

A day earlier, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said his chamber was “stuck” on the issue and insisted that the next move was up to the House.

Boehner rejected that, insisting the House has already done its job. He said Senate Democrats are at fault for blocking a House- passed bill that funds the department through the remainder of the budget year while also overturning Obama’s policies limiting deportations for millions in the U.S. illegally. Democrats oppose the immigration language.

“The House has done its job, why don’t you go ask the Senate Democrats when they’re going to get off their ass and do something other than to vote no?” Boehner told reporters after meeting with GOP lawmakers. “The issue here is not Senate Republicans. The issue here is Senate Democrats.”

In response, a spokesman for Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada chided Boehner that “cursing is not going to resolve the squabbling among Republicans that led to this impasse.”

“Democrats have been clear from day one about the way out of this mess: take up the clean Homeland Security funding bill which Republicans signed off on in December — and which is ready to come to the Senate floor — pass it, and move on,” said Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson.

It’s not clear how the impasse will be resolved since Republican leaders in both chambers insist they have no plans for further action. But not all GOP lawmakers are comfortable with that strategy.

Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., said Wednesday that the Senate should take up a “clean” homeland security spending bill, free of the contested immigration language. “I would think we ought to strip the bill of extraneous issues ... and make it just about homeland security,” said Kirk, who is up for re-election in 2016 in a Democratic-leaning state with a large Latino population.

The likeliest outcome may be a short-term extension of current funding levels, something that agency leaders say would jeopardize their ability to make needed changes.

GOP leader John Boehner wants Senate Democrats to roll back Obama’s orders.