Punts consideration

Senate panel punts consideration of Homeland Security funding bill

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) says there’s no agreement on legislative text with his GOP counterpart.

By Katherine Tully-McManus and Jordain Carney

The Senate Appropriations Committee is punting on its planned markup of a Department of Homeland Security spending bill, originally scheduled for Thursday.

“I don’t believe it’s being marked up this week,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), said in an interview Monday evening.

A GOP aide familiar with the markup plans, granted anonymity to share private conversations, confirmed that the bill not be marked up this week but suggested it was because of scheduling.

Murphy, however, said that he and Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, the Republican who leads the Homeland Security appropriations subcommittee, “don’t have an agreement” on final legislative text, and that there’s no DHS spending bill ready to be considered.

Back in July, Murphy and Britt were seen in a heated exchange on the Senate floor, following passage of a measure to codify the White House request to claw back $9 billion in public broadcasting and foreign aid funding previously approved by Congress.

“I just want to make sure the President spends the money that we are actually writing into the budget, and the budgets are not being used to fund lawlessness or corruption,” Murphy said Monday.

Asked if he expects the Homeland Security funding measure to go through the Appropriations Committee at all at this point, Murphy replied, “I don’t know.”

Murphy has a coveted ranking member spot, but has broken with his fellow appropriators repeatedly this year to oppose bipartisan spending legislation. He voted “no” on the Senate’s first bipartisan funding package of the year.