Our conversation with David Shepardson
The showdown between President Obama and House Republicans continues as the Department of Homeland Security budget is still not securely funded.
The budget has been attached to Republican's efforts to undo President Obama's executive actions on immigration reform. If Congress can't find a way to divide the two, the funding for Homeland Security will expire tomorrow night at midnight.
David Shepardson is the Washington D.C. reporter for the Detroit News.
"It looks as if the Senate will actually go ahead and approve this clean funding bill that would extend funding throughout the rest of the year," says Shepardson. "But House Speaker John Boehner has not indicated whether he will go along with that."
But Shepardson says, "there's a general sense they'll find a way out of this mess."
And for Republicans, it's in their best interest to not allow a government shutdown.
"What's really at stake is 2016 and the next election. If they don't pass a bill and keep Homeland Security funded you could see a lot of voters really turned off by that," Shepardson says.
If the funding is not approved by Friday at midnight many smaller parts of Homeland Security could lose funding, including the Department's ability to make grants. Many smaller municipalities, including some in Michigan, depend on this money for their own public services.
"If it does shut down, it takes the government a lot of time to really ramp back up, and it ends up costing a lot of money to undo these shutdowns," Shepardson says.
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