White House: Obama signs homeland security funding bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed into law a bill that funds the U.S. Department of Homeland Security until the end of the fiscal year, after lawmakers this week ended a months-long dispute over the agency's budget. Congressional Republicans had hoped to overcome Democrats' objections and tie the department's funding to a measure blocking Obama's recent executive actions on immigration. Republicans abandoned that plan this week, and the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a "clean" version of the funding legislation that did not include immigration provisions. That plan had already been approved by the U.S. Senate. Obama said on Wednesday that Homeland Security employees "keep us safe every single day," according to a transcript of his remarks circulated by the White House. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton, additional reporting by Emily Stephenson; Editing by Eric Beech and Eric Walsh)