Senate Republicans could have gotten Democrats on record opposing any funding at all for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees. Instead, they remained silent on Monday morning and rushed out of town as quickly as possible.
At 3 a.m. on Friday, five senators, including John Thune (R-S.D.), rushed through a terrible funding deal that excluded many DHS immigration officers and employees. On Monday morning, March 30, the Senate adjourned until Thursday after a brief pro forma session. No senator introduced the House version of the DHS funding bill, which is the only acceptable version.
Senate Republicans have drawn criticism from multiple House of Representatives colleagues for their actions, including from House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). Rep. John Rose (R-Tenn.) posted on X on March 30, “Let me explain what just happened in our Republican-controlled Senate this morning. ANY single Republican senator could have sought recognition from the chair this morning. That senator could have asked unanimous consent to take up the bipartisan DHS funding bill the House passed Friday, which fully funds DHS.”
Rose continued:
The chair would have asked if there was any objection. We now know Chris Coons (D) planned to object, which would have killed the bill that fully funds our brave border patrol agents and ICE officers. That’s been the Democrats’ plan all along. We would have had them on record, once again, choosing criminal illegal aliens over TSA workers.
BUT THAT DID NOT HAPPEN THIS MORNING. Why?
Rose had an answer for that. “Because not ONE Republican senator went to the floor to put this DHS shutdown exactly where it belongs — on the Democrats. And I presume that’s because they fled Washington.”
Related: Senate Adjourns Until Thursday, Many Homeland Security Employees Still Unpaid
Now, if only the partial government shutdown affected senators’ paychecks, we would have a funding deal quicker than you could say “entitled, blood-sucking oligarchs.” But senators can still jet around or out of the country on the taxpayer dime, and they don’t give a hoot how many DHS employees are spending weeks without the ability to pay bills. Democrats have always loved to force people to work without pay — they are the party of slavery, after all — but Republicans ought to have more spine than this.
Remember, DHS includes everything from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to the U.S. Coast Guard to Customs and Border Protection to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Citizenship and Immigration Services.
One CBP employee wrote to Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin after the handful of senators pulled their 3 a.m. stunt, “The senate bill paid TSA but thousands of CBP & ICE professional staff will not be paid. The last paid work day for me was February 13. Now senate on paid vacation until April 13 that is a guarantee for 2 months no pay. Very likely we won’t be paid until May if [House Speaker Mike] Johnson lets the bill pass.”
So far, Johnson is strongly opposed to letting the Senate bill pass, so hopefully he holds that line. And it’s probably time for the Trump administration and House Republicans to come up with some creative ways to get overdue paychecks to DHS employees without having to appeal to the Senate, as Donald Trump is doing for TSA.
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