AFP/Washington

House speaker John Boehner yesterday accused the White House of “animosity” towards Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose planned speech before the US Congress has stirred up a political furore in both countries.
Boehner defended his decision to invite Netanyahu to give an address on Iran’s nuclear programme before Congress next month, flouting diplomatic convention which says that such an invitation should have come from US president Barack Obama.
Boehner said he felt it was important to do an end-run around White House “interference”, amid a raging debate over whether to soften sanctions on Tehran.
“I wanted to make sure that there was no interference,” he said about his decision to issue the invitation to the Israeli leader.  
“There’s no secret here in Washington about the animosity that this White House has for prime minister Netanyahu,” Boehner told the Fox News Sunday television programme, adding, “frankly, I didn’t want them getting in the way”.
“It’s an important message that the American people need to hear,” Boehner, the top House Republican, added.
“I’m glad that he’s coming and I’m looking forward to what he has to say.”
Obama, a Democrat, has refused to meet Netanyahu during his Washington trip next month, saying diplomatic protocol forbids him from doing so, since the Israeli leader is running for re-election on March 17.
The two leaders have had a famously frosty relationship, which has grown even more tense as a result of the disagreement over Netanyahu’s upcoming speech.
Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany — known as the P5+1 — have been seeking a comprehensive accord with Iran that would prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear bomb in return for an easing of economic sanctions.
Netanyahu has vowed — despite the presidential snub and pushback from Congressional Democrats — to deliver his speech to Congress as negotiators work toward the political outline of a deal by March 31.
The cut-off point for the technical details of a comprehensive accord by June 30.
The Republican house of representatives speaker, said he is willing to let funding for the department of homeland security lapse as part of a Republican push to roll back president Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration.
With a February 27 deadline looming for funding the department, senate Democrats three times this month blocked consideration of the homeland security appropriations bill, which has already been approved by the house.
“Senate Democrats are the ones standing in the way. They’re the ones jeopardizing funding,” Boehner told Fox News yesterday. Asked if he was prepared to let financing for the department lapse, he said: “Certainly. The House has acted. We’ve done our job.”
Arizona senator John McCain, a leading Republican voice on national security matters, told NBC’s Meet the Press of his alarm at the situation.
“The American people did not give us majority to have a fight between House and Senate Republicans,” McCain said, referring to Republicans taking control of both the house and senate after November’s congressional elections. “They want things done. You cannot cut funding from the department of homeland security. We need to sit down and work this thing out.”
Democrats want to fund the department but oppose house amendments stripping funding from Obama’s 2012 and 2014 executive orders lifting a deportation threat for millions of illegal immigrants.
The Republican legislation passed by the house put Senate Republicans in a tough position because not only do they lack the votes to prevent Obama’s fellow Democrats from using procedural hurdles to block the bill but also some Republican senators have expressed misgivings about tying homeland security funding to the immigation issue.
“The House has acted to de-fund the department and to stop the president’s overreach when it comes to immigration and his executive orders,” Boehner said. “... And the Congress just can’t sit by and let the president defy the constitution and defy his own his oath of office.”
The top Democrat was quick to fire back.
“With only four legislative days left until the Republican homeland security shutdown, speaker Boehner made it clear that he has no plan to avoid a government shutdown that would threaten the safety of the American people,” Drew Hammill, spokesman for house Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, said in an e-mail.
“The speaker’s reliance on talking points and finger-pointing was a sad reflection of the fact that (the) Tea Party continues to hold the gavel as they insist on their futile anti-immigrant grandstanding.”
Obama has threatened to veto the House-passed measure. Democrats insist on a “clean” funding bill with no immigration restrictions. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said last week that the Senate was “stuck” and the next move was up to the house.
“Unfortunately, I don’t see exactly how Congress is going to resolve this,” White House chief of staff Denis McDonough told CBS’s Face the Nation.