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On Sunday, former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson called on Congress to allocate funds to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ensure its employees receive their paychecks, as the agency has been affected by a shutdown lasting over a month.
Speaking on the “Cats Roundtable” radio show with host John Catsimatidis on WABC 770 AM, Johnson, who previously served under President Obama, emphasized that only the U.S. government has the authority to instruct its employees to work.
“We need to put an end to these funding battles,” Johnson stated. “In the past, they were an annual occurrence, but now they seem to happen multiple times a year. I’m concerned this will only worsen unless strong leadership steps in to put a stop to this chaos. It’s unfair to punish the workers, as they are not to blame.”
Senate Democrats have consistently refused to approve funding for DHS, arguing alongside their House counterparts for the need to reform Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a sub-agency of DHS. This stance follows concerns regarding the implementation of President Trump’s deportation policies and the treatment of undocumented immigrants and U.S. citizens in detention.
Demands for reform gained momentum after two U.S. citizens were killed during federal immigration enforcement actions in Minneapolis in January.
The former secretary urged lawmakers to no longer link “policy disagreements with funding the government. Separate the two.”
“Go have the debate about masks, about judicial warrants versus administrative warrants, and a bunch of other things,” Johnson said. “But decouple that from the funding and paying the workforce.”
Johnson also advocated for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers. DHS reported Thursday that over 360 TSA officers have left the force since the start of the shutdown.
“They’re there to look for bombs on the airplane you and your family are about to get on,” he said. “So, there needs to be an appropriation to fund this. There are very few agencies of our government that are funded entirely by fees like, for example, the Postal Service.”
Ninety percent of officers under TSA, ICE, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other facets of DHS are deemed essential. TSA officers missed their first paycheck during the shutdown on Friday.
Senate Democrats blocked a bill on Friday to fund DHS. With no clear end in sight, some lawmakers have suggested other methods to stream funds back into the department.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said Republicans should reopen the department using a two-step process by passing a bill that funds DHS but not ICE, then pass an ICE funding measure through a reconciliation bill.
“Now, that to me is a resolution to this,” the senator said on C-SPAN’s “Ceasefire.” “I don’t think my Democratic friends are going to like it, but that’s what’s going to happen if we do it that way.”
The White House hopes to circumvent Democratic opposition. Border czar Tom Homan spoke with centrist Democrats on Thursday to help make a deal possible. Homan later told reporters that the White House will “keep talking” with those centrists until a deal is reached.