Government shutdown would not stop Obama on immigration

Eighty-five percent of DHS employees continued to work during last year’s 16-day shutdown because they were funded with mandatory funds or deemed “essential” to national security or public safety, according to figures the Congressional Research Service (CRS) tracked down for GOP lawmakers.
Only 15 percent of DHS employees were furloughed in last year’s shutdown, the CRS found. On top of that, some 90 percent of the department’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency key to implementing Obama’s executive action, continued operating.

Some rank-and-file Republicans are worried that Obama could declare all DHS workers “essential” and keep them on the job — then simply pay them once a funding deal is reached.

They say fellow Republicans should be under no illusion that the “cromnibus” coming up for a vote in the House on Thursday would put Republicans in a stronger negotiating position next year. The $1.1 trillion bill would fund nearly all of the federal government through September 2015, but would only fund the DHS through Feb. 27.