Britt Frustrated by Democrat Political Gamesmanship
Tick, tick, tick! With every stroke of the clock Alabama Junior U.S. Senator Katie Britt says she is growing more and frustrated with Democrat's foot-dragging in negotiations to fund the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Britt is leading the Republican effort to reach an accord. But she says every time it looks like progress can be made Democrats place another demand in the way.
USDHS is the lone major department still facing a funding shutdown after Congress enacted full-year FY2026 spending for most of the rest of government earlier this month, leaving Homeland Security facing a midnight tonight deadline.
Britt told reporters this morning that she is becoming more and more pessimistic that an agreement can be reached.
Democrats, angry over the recent ICE operations in Minneapolis and other Democrat run sanctuary cities, want fundamental changes made to the department that is just one of several that operates under homeland security.
"It’s totally political theater," she told CBS News. "Because think about this. They are, instead of taking some of what they would believe are advancements, they are walking away so that they can placate to their leftist base. Because instead of putting in what they believe are proper reforms, they’re just saying, ‘No, we don’t want to deal with this at all.’”
Britt points out that ICE is just one component of DHS The organization is comprised of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Coast Guard, Secret Service, TSA, Office of Cybersecurity and Communications National Programs and Preparedness Directorate, Nuclear Incident Response Team, CBRN Countermeasures Programs and more than a dozen of critical agencies.
Britt says even a partial shutdown of DHS could leave the U.S. vulnerable in a number of areas. A major concern is the impact a shutdown would have on commercial aviation due to TSA falling under the perveance of DHS.
“So I don’t think it’s ever easy to go into any kind of government shutdown,” she said, “because every single one of these people depend on their paychecks, and we are asking them to show up to work, and yet, not receiving a paycheck, not being able to pay their bills, their mortgage, their child care, their gas.”
She said Republicans will continue to try to work with Democrats to avoid a shutdown. But as chair of the Senate Appropriations Homeland Security subcommittee, Britt claims Senate Democrats are currently making unreasonable demands.
Adding to the likelihood of a partial government shutdown is the fact that many members of congress have left Washington for a ten-day break.
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