WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats on Wednesday signed onto a Republican plan to fund the Homeland Security Department without the immigration provisions opposed by President Barack Obama. The announcement by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid put the Senate on track to pass the bill as a partial agency shutdown looms Friday at midnight.
"It's an important step to be able to send to the House of Representatives a bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security," Reid told reporters after a closed-door meeting with fellow Democrats. "We look forward to working with our Republican colleagues in the next 24 hours to get this done. All eyes now shift to the House of Representatives as soon as we pass our clean funding bill."
The House's response was uncertain. Earlier Wednesday, House Republicans reacted tepidly at best to the plan from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who proposed decoupling the issue of DHS funding from immigration.
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