Debate continues on Obama Amnesty

	Newsletter	Week of Feb 13
	This Issue: Grassroots keep GOP Leaders on track; More votes to defund Obama's amnesty expected after recess

After a few hours of weakness earlier this week, Senate Leaders have doubled-down on their strategy to force Senate Democrats to end their filibuster on the House-passed DHS funding bill, H.R.240, after resistance from House Leaders and massive pressure from the grassroots. Congress breaks for a week-long recess today. But before leaving town, Sen. Mitch McConnell moved to bring the House-passed bill that defunds Pres. Obama's unconstitutional executive amnesties to the Senate floor for debate when they return. The motion sets up another series of procedural votes during the last week of February -- the same week that current funding for DHS is set to expire on Feb. 27. On Tuesday, however, Sen. McConnell and the rest of Senate Republican Leadership were ready to throw in the towel and started pressing the House to pass a "clean" DHS bill. I think it's clear we can't go forward in the Senate, unless you all have heard something I haven't, and so the next move obviously is up to the House. -- Sen. McConnell I think we have to figure out what the House's next play probably is at this point. -- Senate Republican Conference Chair John Thune (R-S.D.) But the House resisted calls from their Senate colleagues. Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) attended the Senate Republicans' luncheon on Wednesday and urged them to stay the course. And later in the day, a contentious House Speaker, John Boehner (R-Ohio), told reporters to stop asking what the House would do and start asking the Senate Democrats when they would allow debate on the bill. All this prompted Sen. McConnell to pull back on his calls to the House and refocus his attention on the Democrats' filibuster. If Democrats claim to be against overreach and claim to be for funding the critical activities of the Department of Homeland Security, then there's no reason for them to continue their party's filibuster. -- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday Sen. McConnell issued a similar press release on Thursday just before he moved to bring the House-passed bill back to the Senate floor for debate. The strategy taken by the Republican Leaders wouldn't be possible without the incredible pressure applied by the grassroots. We expanded our targeted activism efforts at the first signs of wavering this week to include both Senate and House Leaders. On Wednesday, we received multiple reports from activists that most Senate Leadership offices were overwhelmed with calls and had shut down their phone lines. This constant pressure helped convince Senate Leaders that the voters were on their side. Next week will be crucial in this debate over funding for Obama's amnesties. Members of Congress have heard your calls in Washington, but they must feel that same pressure while back home in their districts. We must continue to remind Republicans of their November campaign promises and force Democrats to take a position -- stand up to Obama's executive overreach and fund the Department of Homeland Security or side with illegal aliens over American workers. Please keep an eye on both your inbox and the Action Board for meeting alerts from Melanie about town hall meetings in your area. chris chmielenski Fri, Feb 13th