Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accuses Republicans of blocking multiple bills to fund DHS
After the Senate Republicans blocked reform legislation offered by Democrats to fund the DHS, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shared scathing remarks on how the GOP is "interested in funding" only the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and not the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers. On Wednesday, Senate Republicans balked at the Democeratic counteroffer as the partial government shutdown neared its 40th day. While all hope seemed to be lost at the start of this week, GOP Senators on early Friday accepted the Democrats' offer of funding all of DHS except ICE and part of Customs and Border Protection, Politico reported.
Earlier on Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) sought to call up the TSA pay bill and vote on it, but Senate Republicans shot down the offer and prevented it from coming up to a vote, as per the official statement. As lawmakers scrambled for a deal to alleviate the situation at airports where thousands of TSA workers called out ahead of a busy U.S. travel week for spring breaks and Easter holiday, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez slammed the GOP for not being open to reform. "Democrats put 9 bills forward to fund TSA," she wrote in her posts on Social Media. "Trump and Republicans blocked every bill because they want to tie TSA workers' paychecks to billions in more unchecked funding for ICE. The answer is clear: fund TSA and not ICE," she concluded.
On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters that there was "no point" in bringing the Democratic counteroffer to a vote as the Senate was already due to vote on the GOP proposal unveiled earlier in the week. Schumer had already shot down that offer, as Democrats demanded measures that coupled DHS funding with a host of new guardrails on immigration enforcement operations.
While the back-and-forth indicated a potential delay in reaching a deal, in the wee hours of Friday, the Senate unanimously approved a funding proposal for the DHS. The Senate Republicans accepted what Democrats have insisted on for weeks, which is funds for all of DHS, except for ICE and parts of Customs and Border Protection. As per CNN, the agreement would fund most of DHS, including TSA and the US Coast Guard, but the House will need to act before all agencies reopen. While the new bill passed by the Senate doesn’t earmark funds for ICE and border patrol, Republicans had already made provisions to fund those agencies under the domestic policy package last year.
Following the agreement, Thune told reporters, "We're gonna execute on as much of DHS as we can tonight, and then we'll fund the rest of it later." When asked what would be funded, Thune said, "I think it'll be everything but ICE and CBP today. So, we'll have to do the rest of that," before noting, "I think customs, they cleared customs," but not border patrol, as per the publication. The Senate's surrender came after President Trump announced that DHS would start paying TSA agents who have been working for almost six months without pay. Lawmakers also worried that TSA agents could organize a nationwide walkout as soon as Friday, Politico reported, citing sources with knowledge of the discussions.
