White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest twice cited Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-SC) support for funding President Obama's executive amnesty program during Monday's White House press briefing.
"I am willing and ready to pass a DHS funding bill and let this play out in court," Graham told ABC News Sunday, referring to U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen's decision last week to issue an injunction blocking Obama's Deferred Action for Parental Accountability program.
House Republicans already passed a bill to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security, but Senate Democrats are filibustering that bill since it would defund the Department of Homeland Security's ability to give work permits to illegal immigrants. DHS funding will expire unless a new bill is passed by Friday.
Graham wants his fellow Republicans to join Senate Democrats and pass a "clean" DHS funding bill that wold allow Obama to give illegal immigrants work permits, Social Security numbers, and drivers licenses.
During the daily White House press briefing Monday, Earnest twice urged Republicans to join with Graham and Democrats to fund Obama's amnesty program.
"Again, Senator Graham, if you listen to his comments -- I think he is somebody who does have a good sense of the way that these politics affect his party -- said that he was confident that his party was going to get blamed," Earnest said referring to the possibility that Obama would choose to prioritize his amnesty program above paying Department of Homeland Security employees. "And that does seem to be where we’re headed, and that’s disappointing."