Our conversation with Congressman Dan Kildee.
The clock is ticking. Funding for the Department of Homeland Security will run out Friday if Congress can't figure out how to separate the DHS budget from the politics of immigration reform.
House Republicans are using the DHS funding bill to try to repeal President Obama's executive actions on immigration. But there aren't enough votes in the Senate to pass that bill.
Not surprisingly, U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., disagrees with House Speaker John Boehner's assertions that President Obama's executive action on immigration was an overreach of his powers.
"I think it's clearly an overreach for the leadership in Congress to threaten to shut down a portion of government because they themselves are unwilling to legislate policy," says Kildee. "I don't remember John Boehner having a conniption when George W. Bush used executive authority on immigration policy."
Kildee says there have been indications the Senate could take up separate funding bills.
"A separate funding bill and separate legislation that would limit the president's authority for executive action, both should stand on their own merit, and I don't think there's any problem with having a separate bill to come to the floor and we'll vote yes or no on the question of policy," Kildee says.
As the stalemate continues, Kildee is working on a bill that would extend support for after-school programs.
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