News · Press Release

Boehner Plans to Shut Down DHS – Republicans Think That’s a Bad Idea

With less than a week before the Department of Homeland Security shuts down, it is clear that the Republican Congress is not interested in averting this crisis.  According to PBS, when asked about the DHS shutdown, Republicans said that they had no plan: “A House leadership aide confirmed that Boehner is not planning any action on DHS funding this week.”

“This is your Republican Congress at work, and they’re doing everything but their jobs,” said Matt Thornton of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “John Boehner and the Republican Congress are great at creating crisis after crisis, but they never seem to have a plan to fix the problems they create.”

GOP Opposition To DHS Shutdown

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL):

“We have to fund Homeland Security,’ Rubio said at a press conference in Las Vegas, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. ‘We can’t let Homeland Security shut down.” [The Hill, 2/18/15]

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)

“It’s not a good idea to shut down the Department of Homeland Security.” [The Hill, 2/19/15]

“Is that the definition of insanity, voting on the same bill over and over again?” [AP, 2/4/15]

“Asked what GOP leaders’ current direction is, McCain replied: ‘I’m not exactly sure.’ ‘This is the third time we’ve demonstrated that there’s not 60 votes,’ McCain said. ‘It would be a very serious error if we allow the DHS to not be funded, because we have significant threats to our security.’” [Politico, 2/5/15]

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the criticism from House Republicans lacks any semblance of reality. “I’d like to hear their recipe, given the rules of the Senate, as to what they want us to do.” [Politico, 2/5/15]

“I’ve been in at least 20 discussions in the last 72 hours or week on this. Nobody really has a strategy yet, I’m sorry to say.” [Roll Call, 2/3/15]

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC):

GRAHAM: The worst possible outcome for this nation is to defund the Department of Homeland Security given the multiple threats we face to our homeland. And I will not be part of that.

STEPHANOPOULOS: OK, you won’t be, but can you get it through the House?

GRAHAM: Time will tell. I hope my House colleagues will understand that our best bet is to challenge this in court, that if we don’t fund the Department of Homeland Security, we’ll get blamed as a party. And to anyone who is watching the world as it is, I’ve never seen more terrorist organizations with more safe havens, with more money, with more capability to strike the homeland than I do today. And that’s a direct result of a failed foreign policy by President Obama. And the worst thing to do is add gasoline to the fire by having the Republican Party defund the Department of Homeland Security. [ABC This Week, 2/22/15]

“On Sunday, GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina, and Arizona’s John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said they would oppose linking the two issues in one bill. Graham told ABC that he is ‘willing and ready’ to vote in favor of a bill that will fund the agency through late September, then let the courts decide on the constitutionality of Obama’s executive actions on immigration.” [FOX News, 2/23/15]

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL):

“After Charlie Hebdo and the burning alive of the Jordanian pilot, we’ve got to find a way to fund DHS,” said Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.). “We’ll let the speaker work out where the votes are. Because he’s got to herd 218 cats.” [Politico, 2/5/15]

“I generally agree with the Democratic position here. I think we should have never fought this battle on DHS funding,” the Illinois senator said in the Capitol. “I think it’s the wrong battle for us at the wrong time.” Does the GOP share blame for the impasse over DHS? “It does,” Kirk said. “Had I been consulted, which I wasn’t, I don’t think we should have ever attached these issues to DHS funding. I always thought the burden of being in the majority is the burden of governing.” [TPM, 2/11/15]

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN):

“We’ve tried three times,” Alexander said. “It looks like we may need a fresh idea.” [Bloomberg, 2/10/15]

Sen. John Thune (R-SD):

“I think we have to figure out what the House’s next play probably is at this point,” said South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the third-ranking Senate Republican. Signaling that yet another vote on the House version of the DHS bill was unlikely, Thune added: “At some point, we have to figure out the next iteration of this big discussion.” [Politico, 2/10/15]

Even Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Thune of South Dakota admits he has no clear idea how the fight will end. He just wants it to be over. “I hope however this ends, it ends with a solution that takes us at through at least the end of the fiscal year, so we’re not revisiting this,” Thune said. “Everybody asks if there’s a CR in the works or a short-term extension? My answer is: ‘Around here, you never know.’ Seems like we do a lot of those.” [Politico, 2/22/15]

Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID):

“We are unable to get on this bill to amend it. And a result of that, the House is going to have to send us another bill that we can get on.” [The Hill, 2/10/15]

Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN):

Senior Senate Republicans said a DHS shutdown would be a political debacle given the increased violence in the Middle East and new threats of attack against U.S. and European shopping malls. “I do believe in this time where we have the kind of threats that we have from all over the world, we certainly need to make sure that Homeland Security is fully funded. And my guess is we’ll figure out a way to make sure that happens this week,” Corker said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press”. [Washington Post, 2/23/15]

“To pass a bill over here, it takes 60 votes. Unless we can figure out some way of multiplying, it seems to me that we have an issue that is very difficult to deal with.” [Politico, 2/5/15]

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK):

“I think three is enough,” Inhofe says. “There is going to be an effort to keep bringing it up and keep the issue alive and as you know there is division within the conference on this.” [National Journal, 2/4/15]

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ):

“The best response we can make is not to stick a finger in the president’s eye. Let’s put legislation on his desk,” Flake said. . . . “We can go through the motions, sure, but I don’t think we’re fooling anybody. Because we need [Democratic] support to get on the bill.” [Politico, 2/5/15]

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who worked on the bipartisan immigration bill that passed the last session of Congress, says it’s up to McConnell, but he’s not sure the DHS funding bill is the best time to have an immigration debate. “My preference has always been to address Obama’s action with legislation,” Flake says. “I think we see the end of this movie.” [National Journal, 2/4/15]

“To attempt to use a spending bill in order to try to poke a finger in the president’s eye is not a good move, in my view,” he said. “I believe that rather than poke the president in the eye we ought to put legislation on his desk, and we ought to use this time — we’ve already used up two weeks trying to attach measures to a funding bill when we could have used this time to actually move actual immigration legislation.” [Huffington Post, 2/12/15]

Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV):

“Instead of addressing the issue of immigration reform comprehensively, the bill before us today only includes language that complicates the process of finding a solution.” [Press Release, 2/3/15]

. . . And Unnamed GOP Senators:

“I wish we would take no for an answer and figure out the next step,” said one Republican senator who requested anonymity to speak frankly about the debate. [The Hill, 2/3/15]

“We just need to rip the Band-Aid off,” said one Republican senator, saying the Senate should strip out all the immigration language and pass a “clean” DHS funding bill. “I think the House guys rolled a grenade in the room,” a second GOP senator said later. [Politico, 2/2/15]

One Republican said there was really no plan beyond having another vote to show the House that the bill won’t pass. “Don’t you love vision?” the senator said with a laugh. [Politico, 2/3/15]

Former DHS Secretary Tom Ridge:

“I think it is political folly. I think it is bad policy. I think the political repercussions could be very severe. And on top of that, the men and women of Homeland Security deserve better. … “I don’t care how many accusatory fingers are pointed at Democrats in the Senate,” Ridge said. “Outside the Beltway, do you know who’s going to be held responsible – and God forbid – [if] something were to happen? It would be the Republican Party.” [LA Times, 2/22/15]

Former NRSC Exec Director Rob Jesmer:

“This is working out exactly the way the President and Democrats want it to work out,” says Rob Jesmer, a top member of FWD.us, a pro-immigration reform group, and former executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. “We’re not going to look very good,” he added of Republicans. “No one is going to look very good. The sooner this gets behind us the better it is.” [TIME, 2/23/15]

 





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