The House began Wednesday debate on a rule for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with an immediate objection from Democrats, who raised a point of order against the rule because it deems the House GOP FY 2012 budget as approved by Congress.

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) raised the point of order against the rule, but acknowledged the point of order was essentially a chance to debate the inclusion of language on the FY 2012. Ellison and several other Democrats reiterated their argument that the GOP budget would "end Medicare as we know it."

A resolution calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Libya was withdrawn from the House schedule this week, prompting sponsor Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) to charge that House leaders were afraid it might have passed.

"The House Leadership has communicated to me via email that the vote on Libya will be postponed 'in an effort to compel more information and consultation' from the administration," Kucinich said Wednesday. "I have been asked to provide input for the information which the House will seek from the administration."

Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), the first Chinese-American woman elected to Congress, introduced a resolution on Wednesday that would formally acknowledge and offer regrets for passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and other related laws around that time aimed at discouraging Chinese emigration.

Chu said Congress has never acknowledged the error of these laws, which were ultimately repealed around World War II, after China became an ally of the United States.

House Democrats on Wednesday morning called on members to reject a House Republican rule for an appropriations bill that would deem the GOP's FY 2012 budget as passed for the purpose of considering appropriations bills this year.

The House Rules Committee approved the rule for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations bill on Tuesday, and Republicans argue the rule must deem the FY 2012 budget resolution as approved in order to start the appropriations process this year. But House Democrats on Wednesday recoiled at that decision, in large part because of their opposition to the GOP's plan to radically change the Medicare program.

Freshman Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) on Tuesday expressed frustration with the glacial pace of the Senate and called on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to stop “playing games.”

“I'm a little bit frustrated at times — most recently by the four votes we did regarding the budget,” Brown said in an interview with the home-state Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Brown was referring to a series of failed votes the Senate took last week on Republican and Democratic budget proposals. 

 “None of them had a chance of passing,” said Brown, one of just five Senate Republicans to vote against a budget proposal authored by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.). Democrats have blasted Ryan’s proposal and credit it with their victory in a special election last week for a New York House seat. Read more...

The House returns at 10 a.m. for speeches and noon for legislative work, and will start with a debate and vote on a rule for H.R. 2017, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations Act for fiscal 2012.

This rule could be controversial because it includes language that "deems" the House GOP budget resolution as passed by Congress, even though it has only passed the House. Republicans say they need to deem the budget as passed in order to start the appropriations process for 2012, but Democrats can be expected to criticize the move and once again warn that the budget would dramatically alter Medicare.

House Republicans on Wednesday plan to approve a rule for FY 2012 appropriations bills that "deems" congressional passage of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) fiscal year 2012 resolution. The GOP says this step is needed to move the appropriations process along, although it also starts the House on a path to considering appropriations bills that call for lower spending levels, which Democrats are likely to oppose.

Under a normal process, the House and Senate would agree to a budget resolution, and numbers in this resolution would be used to write the 12 appropriations bills that are considered each year. But while the House approved Ryan's FY 2012 resolution in April, Senate Democrats have rejected this proposal and appear unlikely to take up that resolution or any other resolution.

"Without [a resolution] in place, there can be no debate on spending," said one House staffer.

The vote, which was expected to fail, was 318-97, with 82 Dems joining Republicans in rejecting the legislation.

Most of the 114 Democratic signatories to an April letter asking for a clean debt ceiling increase voted in favor of the Republican bill to increase the ceiling by $2.4 trillion on Tuesday night, even though Democratic leaders encouraged Democrats to reject it.

The April letter, spearheaded by Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), was signed by 114 Democrats, and of those, 75 ended up voting for the GOP bill.