Senate Votes To Fund DHS – With One Major Exception
The Senate has voted to fund all of the Department of Homeland Security, but not immigration enforcement agencies.
The measure still has to pass the House, but would end a 43-day stalemate that has left TSA agents unpaid, NBC News reported. The funding standoff has created airport chaos, with USA TODAY reporting Thursday that TSA lines at airports around the country were the longest in history.
The newspaper reported that TSA absences began soaring, as agents hadn’t been paid for weeks.
“Multiple airports are experiencing days where 40-50 percent of their staff are calling off because they simply cannot afford to report to work,” TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill said during a House Committee hearing on Homeland Security. “This has led to the highest wait times in TSA history, with some wait times greater than 4.5 hours.”
Democrats had refused to fund DHS until reforms were made regarding ICE and border control following the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota.
The reforms include things such as the use of more body-worn cameras, banning the wearing of masks for federal agents, and requirements regarding training and the use of warrants in operations, USA TODAY reported.
The deal comes despite President Trump demanding on March 22 that no deal be made unless Democrats supported the SAVE Act as well.
“I don’t think we should make any deal with the Crazy, Country Destroying, Radical Left Democrats unless, and until, they Vote with Republicans to pass ‘THE SAVE AMERICA ACT.’ It is far more important than anything else we are doing in the Senate,” Trump wrote. “Let Leader Thune clearly identify those few ‘Republicans’ that are Voting against AMERICA. They will never be elected again!”
The SAVE America Act is unrelated to DHS funding and would impose stringent ID requirements for people to register to vote. The requirements would go beyond a driver’s license and require a passport of birth certificate.
The Senate deal does not include any agreement on the SAVE Act. Trump did not address the deal directly in a social post, but he did say he was going to pay the TSA agents.
“Therefore, I am going to sign an Order instructing the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, to immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation, and to quickly stop the Democrat Chaos at the Airports. It is not an easy thing to do, but I am going to do it!” Trump wrote.
Regardless, the Senate funding deal was expected to move to the House making a potential executive from Trump largely moot.
“I think we’re gonna pass it. I hope we can get it done today,” House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Tex., said in an interview Friday with CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
