By David Lawder and Susan Cornwell
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Republicans regrouped on Tuesday to search for a new plan for Department of Homeland Security funding after Senate Democrats blocked their bid to derail President Barack Obama's executive immigration orders.
A Republican-authored DHS spending bill with immigration restrictions failed to win the 60 votes needed to advance in the Senate, setting up a showdown over the Feb. 27 expiration of funding for the agency.
No clear path forward had emerged by late on Tuesday afternoon. Some House Republicans were discussing a proposal to fund parts of the agency, except for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said Arizona Representative Matt Salmon, a conservative.
USCIS is the key department charged with implementing Obama's November order to lift the threat of deportation for millions of undocumented immigrants.
Salmon and other House Republicans said they want their party, which now also controls the Senate, to keep fighting for the House-passed DHS funding plan and bring public pressure to bear on Democrats.
"I hope the Senate has the ability to keep bringing it up," he said. "They can do Chinese water torture on them (the Democrats) and keep bringing it up."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell switched to "no" on the 51-48 vote in a maneuver that keeps the bill alive for further votes this week. Republican Senator Dean Heller of Nevada, a state with a large immigrant population, voted with Democrats to block the bill.
Obama and Democrats demanded a DHS funding bill devoid of immigration restrictions, citing heightened terrorist threats.
"We'll wind up passing a clean bill," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid. "Why do we wait, why do we agonize?"
House Speaker John Boehner told Republican lawmakers in a closed-door meeting earlier on Tuesday that "this is the fight, so now let's fight," said Republican Representative John Carter.
Boehner declined to say how Republicans would proceed if the Senate cannot pass the House bill.
"The goal here is not to run DHS out of money. The goal is to stop the president's overreach," Boehner told a news briefing.
Some Republicans are willing to accept a lapse in funding for DHS. Representative Raul Labrador of Idaho said Obama would take the blame, not Republicans.
While much of DHS' security functions have been deemed essential and will continue to operate if funding lapses, the agency has said it would be forced to furlough about 30,000 employees, or 15 percent of its workforce.