BEIJING, Feb. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- The White House says that US President Barack Obama has signed a bill that will fund the Department of Homeland Security for one week.
The House of Representatives passed the bill hours before an impending deadline for funding the department. This came amid a debate over the president's recent unilateral action on immigration policy.
Earlier on Friday, the House rejected a three-week funding extension for the agency. Republican conservatives rebelled because the bill did not block Obama's executive orders on immigration. On a second try late in the evening, House Democrats provided the votes to pass a one-week extension.
If the funding had not been extended by midnight, spending authority would have been cut off for the agency that secures US borders, airports and coastal waters. The agency would have been forced to temporarily lay-off about 30,000 employees, or about 15 percent of its workforce.
(Source: CNTV.com)
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