GOP Leaders Will Allow Clean DHS Vote, Possibly Ending Impasse

Speaker John Boehner is finally ready to end the DHS stalemate, and conservatives probably can't stop him.

After months of indecision and strife, Boehner told GOP lawmakers he plans to allow a vote as early as Tuesday on a clean bill to fund the Homeland Security Department through the rest of the fiscal year, dashing the hopes of conservatives who want to tie the money to language clocking President Obama's executive actions on immigration.

Though they plan to vote against the move, conservatives acknowledged Tuesday morning there was little they could do to avert passage.

"So he just caved in there," Rep. Tim Huelskamp said of Boehner, adding: "Guess he forgot that a number of us had recommended that this was a poor strategy back in December."

Rep. Steve King said: "This is the inevitable end."

Leaders detailed their plan at a closed-door GOP conference meeting beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday. According to a source in the room, Boehner told members the House would vote on the Senate's DHS funding bill once it receives papers confirming that the other chamber would not go to conference on the bill.

"As you've heard me say a number of times, the House has done its job by passing legislation to fund DHS and block the president's executive actions on immigration," Boehner said, according to the source. "Unfortunately, the fight was never won in the other chamber. Democrats stayed united and blocked our bill, and our Republican colleagues in the Senate never found a way to win this fight. The three-week CR we offered would have kept this fight going and allowed us to continue to put pressure on Senate Democrats to do the right thing. Unfortunately, that plan was rejected."

Boehner said the House's only options were a DHS shutdown, yet another short-term CR, or the clean Senate bill:

"With more active threats coming into the homeland, I don't believe [a shutdown is] an option," Boehner said. "Imagine if, God forbid, another terrorist attack hits the United States."

Boehner also pointed to a recent court ruling halting Obama's executive actions on immigration as reason for hope.

"I am as outraged and frustrated as you at the lawless and unconstitutional actions of this president. … I believe this decision—considering where we are—is the right one for this team, and the right one for this country," Boehner said, according to the source. "The good news is that the president's executive action has been stopped, for now. This matter will continue to be litigated in the courts, where we have our best chance of winning this fight."

Speculation in the past 48 hours has focused increasingly on a quirk in House rules that would allow any individual House member, Republican or Democrat, to bring the funding bill to the floor as a privileged resolution—guaranteeing an up-or-down vote.

King has drafted a resolution that would suspend the House rule allowing a privileged vote on the funding bill, but his resolution is meaningless unless the leadership allows it to pass.

King said there was "zero dissent in the room" Tuesday as Boehner offered his plan, mainly because of "exhaustion" over the constant back and forth with the Senate. King did say, "There will be a good bunch of us who vote no on this."

A massive revolt at Tuesday's conference could prompt leaders to change course, but many lawmakers—particularly those close to leadership—say they don't see any other viable options that could pass the Senate before DHS funding runs out Friday night.

Sources close to the House Freedom Caucus, the new group of the most conservative Republican members, said the caucus heard about the plan Monday night. Its members staunchly oppose the idea but appear to be unable to stop it. The sources said the group continues to make other offers and suggestions to leadership in hopes of averting the clean funding vote.

The Freedom Caucus also made counteroffers Friday, after 52 Republicans joined Democrats in voting down a three-week DHS extension. The House came back and passed a one-week extension Friday night on a bipartisan basis, amid intense speculation and disagreement over whether Boehner had promised Democrats he would bring a clean bill to the floor.

Rachel Roubein contributed to this article.