Republicans Use Heightened Threat Level During Iran Conflict To Push Democrats on Homeland Security Funding

Republicans on Capitol Hill are digging in on their demand that the Department of Homeland Security be funded immediately, especially in light of the heightened threat level during the ongoing military campaign against Iran. Democrats have shown no signs they will buckle during this partial government shutdown, however, which began more than two weeks ago. After the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, Democrats refused to fill the Department of Homeland Security’s coffers unless ICE, Border Patrol, and other immigration agents were forced to remove their masks, wear body cameras, allow for independent investigations, and adopt a more stringent use-of-force standard. Senate Democrats and the White House have been negotiating for weeks, but now Republicans in Congress say it’s too critical a time for DHS to be shut down. “Unfortunately, due to the previous Administration’s open border policies, Iran’s terror proxy groups pose a serious threat to our homeland,” Senator Katie Britt, the chairwoman of the Senate subcommittee which writes the DHS budget, said in a statement. “It is critical that we fully fund the Department of Homeland Security. We must work together to ensure that DHS has the resources it needs to keep our citizens safe and our homeland secure.” She says DHS is critical to prevent events like “cyberattacks, potential retaliatory terrorism, and disinformation campaigns.” The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Congressman Andrew Garbarino, also says cyberattacks are top-of-mind for him. In a statement to DefenseOne, Mr. Garbarino said that DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, cannot be mothballed while the risk of Iranian cyber attacks remains elevated. “We know adversaries are looking for any perceived vulnerability to strike, and the second DHS shutdown in six months is exactly the kind of weakness they would seek to exploit,” Mr. Garbarino said. “CISA and its skilled personnel need to remain fully operational — and paid — to ensure our nation is ready to deter and respond to cyber threats against critical infrastructure across the public and private sectors.”An additional concern — the possibility of extremists deploying violence in a show of solidarity with Iran — seems to have already materialized. Less than 24 hours after the first American and Israeli strikes were launched against Iran on Saturday, a man in Austin, Texas shot up a bar, killing three and injuring 14 others. The alleged perpetrator, Ndiaga Diagne, is a naturalized citizen from Senegal who was wearing a sweatshirt that read, “Property of Allah,” as well as a shirt bearing the Iranian flag. Congressman Chip Roy, who lives in Austin, shared a post on X from the Border Patrol Union, which simply read, “FUND DHS NOW!!!”Speaker Mike Johnson will try to put Democrats on their heels once again while hoping that the politics of DHS have changed. Despite having already passed Republicans’ DHS budget legislation and sent it to the Senate, Mr. Johnson is bringing it up for a vote once again later this week. Democrats do not seem inclined to bend to Republicans’ wishes, however. Ms. Britt’s Democratic partner on the DHS funding subcommittee, Senator Chris Murphy, has said repeatedly that he would not agree to a funding deal without meaningful reform of how deportations are conducted. “Not one more dime for the Department of Homeland Security until they start following the law!” Mr. Murphy said at a rally last week meant to counter-program the State of the Union. Regardless of when DHS is funded, President Trump’s mass deportation campaign has continued. As part of his One Big Beautiful Bill Act, ICE was given more than $40 billion over the course of the next four years, meaning that operations will not cease even if other officials at DHS are not being paid. Other critical parts of the department will start to hit roadblocks this week, with employees at agencies like the TSA and FEMA missing their first payment. During last year’s shutdown, which lasted more than 40 days, a sizable number of employees used sick time in order to work other jobs so that they could pay their bills. Last month, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem took the unusual step of trying to pause airline passengers’ ability to use TSA PreCheck, which allows for individuals to more easily get through security. That policy never came to fruition, though Global Entry — a designation which allows Americans to more easily get through customs — is on pause. All non-disaster-related work at FEMA and staff escorts for members of Congress at airports have similarly been paused during the shutdown.

Republicans Use Heightened Threat Level During Iran Conflict To Push Democrats on Homeland Security Funding

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