A leading House Republican blamed Democrats for the ongoing partial government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and said the Congressional chamber will vote again to fully reopen the federal agency on March 26.
“We’re gonna vote to fund homeland security and I think that vote tally should be blown up,” Johnson said. “It should be put up in poster size at every airport terminal so they can see who voted to keep those lines of TSA winding around the airport.”
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill remain at a stalemate, leaving DHS federal employees, including Transportation Security Administration (TSA) airport staff, on the job without pay.
The lapse in financing started in mid-February.
“Just last week, 190 Democrats voted against two bills,” Johnson said. “What were those bills? Common sense. Expedite the deportation of illegal aliens who abuse service animals. They voted no and those who commit fraud in our country, they voted no.”
The Democrats have said the White House’s DHS plan does not restrict U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents enough.
Their reform demands include changes to DHS’s immigration enforcement tactics, such as barring federal immigration agents from wearing masks, mandating body cameras, and requiring ICE agents to obtain judicial warrants to search homes.
American travelers have been facing long wait times at airport security checkpoints across the country.
More than 450 TSA agents have quit, and thousands have called in sick from work, according to DHS public affairs acting assistant secretary Lauren Bis.
LaGuardia Airport’s callout rate was 20.3 percent, 37.4 percent at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, 34.9 percent at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, and 40.3 percent at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston.
Johnson said the vote this week will highlight the positions of Democratic members of Congress.
“They’re holding the government hostage,” he added. “Why? What is their demand at the root of all this? They want to reopen the border and they want to protect criminals.”
