--- title: Barack Obama Urges Congress to Fund Homeland Security description: President Obama urged Congressional Republicans to stand down from a looming fight over Department of Homeland Security spending. canonical: https://time.com/3692280/obama-congress-homeland-security/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-02T17:10:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:05:54.166Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Warns Congress on Looming Immigration Battle og:description: GOP considers blocking Homeland Security funding. og:url: https://time.com/3692280/obama-congress-homeland-security/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb53d29a5a44c6c2/69877d2ae53aba38b34d7599/barack-obama-3.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Barack Obama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Warns Congress on Looming Immigration Battle twitter:description: GOP considers blocking Homeland Security funding. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb53d29a5a44c6c2/69877d2ae53aba38b34d7599/barack-obama-3.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Warns Congress on Looming Immigration Battle by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 2, 2015 5:10 PM UTC  President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Jan. 30, 2015. President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Jan. 30, 2015.Carolyn Kaster—AP by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 2, 2015 5:10 PM UTC President Obama urged Congressional Republicans to stand down from a looming fight over Department of Homeland Security spending tied to the hot-button issue of illegal immigration. Congress has until the end of this month to approve this year’s funding for the agency, the only one not included in a budget deal passed late last year. But some Hill Republicans hope to use the spending bill to try to undo Obama’s decision to [defer deportations](http://time.com/3595165/immigration-barack-obama-executive-action/) for millions who came to the U.S. illegally. In a speech unveiling his [FY 2016 budget](http://time.com/3691341/obama-budget-roads-corporate-tax/) at the Department of Homeland Security Monday, he noted that over 100,000 employees would have to show up to work if a spending bill is not passed by the Feb. 27 deadline, but they would not be paid. “Don’t jeopardize national security over this disagreement,” he said. The department was excluded from a long-term appropriations package passed late last year, but a House bill passed in [January](http://time.com/3665249/immigration-congress-protest/) would provide $40 billion to the department through September. That bill, however, includes language that would block Obama’s executive actions and restart deportations for people covered by Obama’s executive actions. The President has already threatened to veto the bill, which would lead to a partial shutdown. Obama noted a comment from a Congressional Republican who last week said it “[wouldn’t be the end of the world](http://www.nationaljournal.com/white-house/obama-will-warn-gop-against-homeland-security-shutdown-20150129)” if a spending bill were not to pass before the deadline, saying “I guess literally that’s true, but until they pass a funding bill that’s the end of a paycheck of tens of thousands of frontline workers.” ### Photos: Documenting Immigration From Both Sides of the Border  A woman and her child from Central America are apprehended just after crossing the Rio Grande, Hidalgo, Texas, June 24, 2014. Kirsten Luce  Women and children from Central America are apprehended just after crossing the Rio Grande, Hidalgo, Texas, June 24, 2014. Kirsten Luce  Border Patrol Agents respond to a call near a section of the border fence in Hidalgo, Texas on Feb. 13, 2013. Kirsten Luce  Border Patrol vehicles respond to a call on the banks of the Rio Grande in Hidalgo, Texas on June 24, 2014. Kirsten Luce  The old border fence where scouts watch for border patrol activity and aid drug or migrant traffickers in Tijuana, Mexico, Feb. 14, 2013. Kirsten Luce  A border patrol vehicle on the remote terrain along the border in Southern California, east of San Diego, Feb. 15, 2013. Kirsten Luce  Border Patrol agents patrol the floodplain along the banks of the Rio Grande, south of Mission, Texas on Feb. 13, 2013. Kirsten Luce  Border Patrol agents patrol the thick brush along the banks of the Rio Grande south of Mission, Texas on Feb. 13, 2013. Kirsten Luce  Women and children from Central America are apprehended just after crossing the Rio Grande into Hidalgo, Texas on June 24, 2014. Kirsten Luce  Women and children from Central America are apprehended just after crossing the Rio Grande into Hidalgo, Texas on June 24, 2014. Kirsten Luce  The belongings of women and children apprehended after crossing the Rio Grande into Texas, collected and bagged by Border Patrol, Hidalgo, Texas, June 24, 2014. Kirsten Luce  Migrants run from a gap in the border fence to a waiting car in the early morning in Penitas, Texas, Feb. 14, 2013. Kirsten Luce  An aerial of jeep trails in the United States (bottom), in an area that was once a popular crossing point into the United States from Tijuana, Mexico (top), Feb. 15, 2013. Kirsten Luce  The westernmost edge of the border extends into the Pacific Ocean separating Tijuana, Mexico and California. Kirsten Luce If the spending bill is not passed, DHS employees in critical security positions would likely still report to work. During the 2013 government shutdown, over [80% of key employees](http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/what-a-homeland-security-shutdown-would-look-like-20150105) reported for duty when many federal employees were furloughed. White House officials say about 147,000 front-line employees, including TSA agents, Customs and Border Patrol Officers, Secret Service agents and members of the Coast Guard would be forced to work without pay if funding were to expire. The Senate is set to take up the House bill on Tuesday. “The House-passed bill we’ll consider would do two things: fund the Department of Homeland Security, and rein-in executive overreach,” Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday. “There’s no reason for Democrats to block it.” But Senate Democrats are poised to do just that. In several interviews,[ Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/02/02/immigration-executive-order-homeland-security-funding/22592615/), the Senate Minority Whip, has made it clear that Senate Democrats plan to vote against the House version of the bill, which would make it impossible for it to get the 60 votes it would need to advance. _Roll Call_ [reported](http://blogs.rollcall.com/218/mccarthy-releases-february-legislative-memo/?pos=adpb) last Thursday that House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy issued a memo noting that if the Senate fails to pass their bill Republicans “will be discussing with the Conference the best way to continue to challenge the President’s unconstitutional amnesty.” Republicans are facing pressure to maintain Department of Homeland Security funding from beyond the White House and Congress, too. Last week, three former Department of Homeland Security Secretaries—two Republicans and a Democrat— sent a letter to Congress urging members to approve the spending without conditions. “It is imperative that we ensure that DHS is ready, willing and able to protect the American people,” Secretaries Tom Ridge, Michael Chertoff and Janet Napolitano said in the letter, first reported by the [_Washington Post_](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/01/29/3-ex-homeland-security-secretaries-warn-congress-about-immigration-funding/). “To that end, we urge you not to risk funding for the operations that protect every American and to pass a clean DHS funding bill.” Obama said Monday, “We need to fund the department, pure and simple.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3692280/obama-congress-homeland-security/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3692280/obama-congress-homeland-security/"},"headline":"Obama Warns Congress on Looming Immigration Battle","datePublished":"2015-02-02T17:10:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:05:54.166Z","description":"President Obama urged Congressional Republicans to stand down from a looming fight over Department of Homeland Security spending.","url":"https://time.com/3692280/obama-congress-homeland-security/","keywords":["White House","Immigration","Budget"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb53d29a5a44c6c2/69877d2ae53aba38b34d7599/barack-obama-3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb53d29a5a44c6c2/69877d2ae53aba38b34d7599/barack-obama-3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack Obama","caption":"Barack Obama","creditText":"Carolyn Kaster—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3692280/obama-congress-homeland-security/","name":"Obama Warns Congress on Looming Immigration Battle"}}]}] ```