Time is running out before funding for the Department of Homeland Security dries up–a scenario that the head of the House Republican Policy Committee said he would welcome, if the President doesn’t adopt a policy on deportations suitable to conservatives.
Appearing on CSPAN’s Washington Journal on Tuesday morning, Rep. Luke Messer (R-Ind.), was asked if the current GOP strategy of trying to defund President Obama’s executive actions on immigration justified shutting down DHS.
“I believe it does,” Rep. Messer replied. “This is about way more than just our current immigration debate,” he added.
He then chastised Republicans in the Senate for not doing more to advance a DHS funding bill that strips deferred deportation status from millions of undocumented immigrants living and working in the US–a distinction granted by the White House late last year.
“When Rand Paul was concerned about drones, he did a filibuster,” Messer said. He also recalled how Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) filibustered continued funding of the Affordable Care Act in 2013.
“Each of those efforts brought the attention of the American people to the debate. I haven’t seen that kind of effort out of the Senate yet,” said Messer.
The obstruction the congressman applauded is actually happening in the Senate, although it’s Democrats leading the campaign, with the power dynamics reversed since the occurrence of the procedural moves referenced by Messer. On three occasions, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has failed to advance a DHS funding bill in the face of Democratic opposition over Republican bids to block the president’s decrees on immigration.
“I understand what the math is,” said Rep. Messer, acknowledging that “without some of the Democratic senators coming along, it’s difficult for the bill to move.”
But he stressed that “the fight matters. The debate matters.”
During the 2013 government shutdown, the majority of DHS employees were exempt from emergency furloughs, with a large number of them classified as “essential” personnel. Department activities including airport screening, immigration enforcement, and Secret Service operations continued during the congressional gridlock.
However, several other department operations including ongoing research, hiring, and non-emergency investments and grants would be affected by a shutdown.
Another DHS mission that could be hampered relates to cyber security. The White House announced on Tuesday the formation of a new office within DHS that will focus on disseminating information on cyber threats to other government agencies. The launch of that entity, the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center, would be complicated by a department shutdown.
Current funding for the agency expires Feb. 27.
As chair of the Republican Policy Committee, Keller is charged with developing “conservative policy solutions.” He nabbed the post in January, at the start of the 114th Congress.
