By Niels Lesniewski and JM Rieger

Just days from a shutdown, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has begun to pivot toward a new strategy to separate funding for the Department of Homeland Security from the GOP’s plan to roll back President Barack Obama’s immigration actions. The Kentucky Republican offered a standalone bill focused on the immigration actions alone after Democrats filibustered for a fourth time the House-passed DHS bill, this time on a 47-46 vote, 13 shy of the 60 needed to advance. “It isn’t tied to DHS funding. It removes their excuse,” the Kentucky Republican said on the Senate floor. “This is our colleagues’ chance to do exactly what they led their constituents to believe they’d do: defend the rule of law, without more excuses.”