House votes to prohibit DOJ from taking action against state immigration laws

The House early Wednesday morning passed an amendment to a 2013 spending bill that would prohibit the Justice Department from pursuing lawsuits against state immigration laws.

The amendment was approved during late Tuesday consideration of several amendments to H.R. 5326, a bill providing funds for the Justice Department and other agencies in 2013. Less than a minute after the voice vote, Democrats called for a recorded vote, but were told by Presiding Officer Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) that this request was "not timely."

However, several minutes later, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) sought unanimous consent to hold a recorded vote on an amendment to an immigration law. Early Wednesday morning, the amendment passed 238-173.

The amendment, from Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.), is a GOP response to the Obama administration's suit against Arizona's immigration law. That law requires local law enforcement officers to determine whether people are legal U.S. residents if they are stopped for other reasons.

Democrats say state laws such as Arizona's intrude on the federal government's responsibility to enforce immigration laws. But Republicans have said these and other laws are needed because the federal government has failed to enforce federal law, and that illegal immigrants are entering the United States, committing crimes and otherwise taking up federal and state resources.

— This story was updated at 10:47 p.m. to reflect the later request for a recorded vote, and again at 12:15 a.m. Wednesday to reflect the roll-call vote.