MAGA lawmakers seized on the president’s war with Iran to shamelessly try to coerce Democrats into funding Kristi Noem’s Department of Homeland Security.
Immediately after 79-year-old President Donald Trump launched his strikes against Iran on Saturday, Republicans began pressuring Democrats to abandon their efforts to reform DHS policy and restore the agency’s funding.
Just hours after bombs first fell on Tehran on Saturday, GOP Rep. Mike Lawler called on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to pass the DHS funding bill.
“Given the situation in the Middle East and the potential for Iran and its terrorist proxies to attempt some type of attack, it is imperative that @SenSchumer and @RepJeffries immediately drop all opposition to funding the Department of Homeland Security and pass the funding bill,” the New York Republican wrote on X.
On Sunday, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise pressed Democrats to “end the DHS shutdown,” citing FBI Director Kash Patel’s announcement that he was placing the bureau’s counterterrorism and intelligence teams on high alert.
“Following the successful strikes on Iran and the FBI’s warning of elevated threats here at home, it is dangerous for Democrats in Washington to keep the Department of Homeland Security shut down,” the Louisiana Republican, 60, declared on X.
He added, “This week, we are calling on House Democrats to end their dangerous games by bringing to the floor legislation to end the DHS shutdown so we can ensure agencies can protect America during this dangerous time.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to hold a vote on the funding bill on Thursday, three people with direct knowledge of the plans told Politico.
Democrats have refused to support funding for the agency without policy changes—including enhanced training and a ban on masks for immigration agents—after two U.S. citizens were killed by federal agents in Minneapolis in January.
The GOP’s political maneuvering effectively forces Democrats into a corner, much like Trump’s theatrics during the State of the Union, when he asked members of Congress to stand if they believed “the first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.”
But Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy rejected Republicans’ framing of the issue on CBS News’ Face the Nation Sunday.
“We can do two things at once. We can demand that ICE stop murdering American citizens, and we can demand that the administration not send our kids to die for a war that we don’t need,” Murphy said. “I don’t have any obligation to fund a Department of Homeland Security that is violating the law every day, just like I don’t have any obligation to support this war that is illegal as well.”
