House Republicans will give Democrats a second chance to vote for a Department of Homeland Security funding bill on Thursday, saying the war with Iran increases the urgency of ending the weeks-long shutdown of the department.
Most Democrats say they are still unwilling to fund DHS without sweeping changes to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said it is “shameful” that Democrats are still opposing the funding bill in a heightened threat environment.
“We have Democrats running around here playing political games in Congress. It’s infuriating,” he said. “They’ve shut down the very agency that is responsible for securing the homeland.”
Mr. Johnson said Democrats’ open border policies under the Biden administration have contributed to the dangerous threat environment.
He cited Customs and Border Protection figures showing at least 1,500 Iranians illegally crossed U.S. borders during that time — roughly half of whom were released into the country — but said that is probably an underestimate, as more likely evaded capture.
“We don’t know how many dangerous people are here — how many Iranians who believed in that ideology of the ayatollah, who now is buried,” Mr. Johnson said. “It’s just a small sample of the mess we inherited from Democrats with their radical ideology, and the mess that President Trump and Republicans are working in earnest to clean up so we can save American lives and protect the homeland.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said the threat is not hypothetical after a man wearing a “Property of Allah” shirt killed three people Sunday at a bar in Austin, Texas. Authorities are investigating it as a terror attack.
“We need to be more vigilant than ever and have a fully functioning Department of Homeland Security with all the capabilities, cyber capabilities, which right now are dramatically limited because of Democrats’ reckless and dangerous action to shut that department down,” the Louisiana Republican said.
“It is time for their dangerous games to end. Democrats need to vote with us [Thursday] to reopen the Department of Homeland Security to make sure that our basic mission as members of Congress to keep Americans safe continues,” he said.
At least a handful of Democrats will likely support the DHS funding bill. Democratic leaders are asking their members to oppose the measure, saying Republicans have not proven themselves serious about threats to the homeland and are using that argument as an effort to score political points.
Rep. Jason Crow, Colorado Democrat, said the administration has diverted “vast quantities” of Homeland Security investigation agents, FBI agents and other federal employees who conduct counterterrorism and cyber investigations and operations “to their ill-conceived immigration policies.”
Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar of California said Republicans tried to cut funding for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in half during the DHS funding negotiations, but Democrats successfully fought against that.
He said Democrats would vote for a bill that funds non-immigration enforcement agencies that fall under DHS — CISA, the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Transportation Security Administration and the Secret Service — but Mr. Johnson is choosing not to pursue that path to protecting the homeland.
“He’s choosing to engage in this fake fight to try to make a point and using war as a reason to try to score political points,” Mr. Aguilar said.
He said Democrats cannot support additional funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and CBP while the agencies use taxpayer dollars to terrorize American communities and U.S. citizens.
The House passing the DHS funding a second time will do nothing to dislodge Democratic opposition in the Senate, although Republicans there have also underscored the urgency of reopening the department and are planning another vote Thursday to try to do so.
“With an enhanced terror threat from Iran and Iran-funded terrorist groups, it is vital that we ensure the Department of Homeland Security is fully funded and fully functioning,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican.
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said key national security agencies — the Defense Department, the CIA and the FBI — are already funded. She said Democrats support funding most of DHS but are unwilling to give up their fight for guardrails on the Trump administration’s deportation force.
“I am not going to vote to fund ICE and let them detain, brutalize, shoot, or kill more American citizens just because Donald Trump started an unconstitutional war that no one asked for,” Ms. Murray said.
