In the end, they went down quietly.

After weeks of drama, House Republicans finally on Tuesday did what many Capitol watchers had expected they’d do for weeks: They passed a bill funding the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) without any riders seeking to undo President Obama’s recent executive order on immigration policy.

The final vote of 257-167 earned the support of all 182 House Democrats — including Hawaii Reps. Tulsi Gabbard and Mark Takai — plus 75 representatives from the majority party.

The Senate had already passed the bill without incident, and it will now go to the president, who has promised he’ll sign it. Hawaii, for which DHS operations are perhaps more important than other states, can breathe easily, knowing there will be no interruption in funding for the department’s many critical responsibilities.

Rep. Mark Takai was one of many House members frustrated by tea party theatrics on the DHS funding bill that passed Tuesday.

Cory Lum/Civil Beat

While Congress’ work is now done on this measure, few can be happy about the process that yielded this outcome. Once again, the tea party wing of the GOP insisted on picking a fight it was fundamentally unable to win, wasted an enormous amount of time getting to a foregone conclusion, humiliated House Speaker John Boehner and, in the end, walked away empty-handed.

Tea partiers’ frustration, however, may well be surpassed by that of their colleagues. Takai was among many who took to social media and the House floor, accusing fellow representatives of “political grandstanding” and demanding they stop “holding hostage” the DHS bill.

“… you know as well as I do that forcing this … is not the proper way to go about having this debate,” the freshman lawmaker said Monday in a floor speech directed at Boehner. “At the beginning of the 114th Congress, you wrote an op-ed with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell entitled, ‘Now We Can Get Congress Going.’ That is what I wrote to you and urged you to do today, Mr. Speaker.”

The grumbling wasn’t entirely left to Democrats. Rep. Peter King, R-NY, may have spoken for more than a few when he called those pushing for immigration riders “self righteous and delusional” during an appearance Sunday on ABC News’ “This Week.”

If their Quixotic crusades against the Affordable Care Act, the federal debt ceiling, presidential nominees and now immigration reform have taught members of the tea party caucus anything, one wouldn’t know it from their reactions to today’s action. “This is the signal of capitulation,” fumed Iowa Rep. Steve King, one of its leaders, to the Washington Times.

Sadly, this likely isn’t the last time we’ll see this game. Capitol insiders widely predicted voters would make the GOP pay at the ballot box following the 16-day partial government shutdown in 2013 (a shutdown that had significant impact in Hawaii, given its large number of federal employees and operations). Instead, the party picked up 13 seats in the fall 2014 elections, expanding its majority to a comfy 59.

Playing to the GOP’s seemingly always angry/never-sated right wing not only feels good, it comes with no apparent price tag and plenty of attention.

From the National Journal: “Rep. John Fleming, a House Freedom Caucus founding member, said more battles pitting the president against Republicans are coming — and leadership should be prepared.”

We can hardly wait.