WASHINGTON: US Senate leaders struck a deal Wednesday to avert an ugly shutdown and fund homeland security operations through September, but it remained unclear whether lawmakers will agree to the plan before Friday's deadline.
The fate of US security operations including border patrols, airport screening and Secret Service protection hung in the balance as lawmakers bickered about how to break an impasse over funding the Department of Homeland Security, which has become embroiled in a partisan fight over immigration.
Republicans, irate over President Barack Obama's unilateral action in November to shield millions of undocumented workers from deportation, attached their immigration order repeal efforts to the DHS funding bill.
That measure passed the House in January, but Senate Democrats fought for weeks to keep the two issues separate, blocking the legislation four straight times as the clock ticked toward a midnight Friday deadline.
But with several Republicans voicing concern the party would likely take the blame for a partial security shutdown in the run up to the 2016 presidential race, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to blink.
In a deal he reached with top Senate Democrat Harry Reid, McConnell offered to hold separate votes on immigration measures and DHS.
The Senate voted 98-2 to open debate on the $40 billion DHS funding measure, with McConnell pledging to strip out the immigration amendments. A final Senate vote could come as early as Thursday.
"I would welcome bipartisan cooperation," McConnell told senators.
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