ANOTHER DEMOCRAT SHUTDOWN

• Last week, Democrats voted for their third government shutdown in a year.

• Democrats held the country hostage for 43 days last year and got nothing in return.
• Now, throwing yet another tantrum, Democrats are refusing to fund the Department of Homeland Security where 90% of employees are deemed essential and will continue to work without pay.
• Democrats claim they want to rein in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but in reality, they want to hinder ICE’s ability to do their job and put their officers – and Americans – in harm’s way.
• But because of the Working Families Tax Cuts, ICE is already funded through 2029 making this shutdown completely pointless.
• Instead, the shutdown will harm FEMA, TSA, Secret Service, and the Coast Guard and prevent them from performing their duties. 
• As Democrat Senator John Fetterman said, “Shutting DHS down has zero impact and zero changes for ICE.”

DEMOCRATS REFUSED TO HEED THE WARNINGS ABOUT THE DAMAGE THEIR SHUTDOWN WOULD CAUSE

• Last week, DHS officials testified before Congress on the effects a shutdown would have on workers and the public.
• TSA Deputy Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill said that many TSA officers work paycheck to paycheck, and a government shutdown would make paying rent, bills, childcare, and gas very challenging.
• McNeill cited reports from Democrats’ 43-day shutdown last year where officers were sleeping in their cars at airports to save money on gas, while others sold blood or plasma and took on second jobs just to make ends meet.
• 95% of TSA employees are exempt and are forced to work without paying during the shutdown.
• FEMA Associate Administrator Gregg Phillips detailed how another Democrat shutdown would “severely disrupt FEMA’s ability to reimburse states for disaster relief costs and to support our recovery from disasters.”
• Phillips laid out how if an unexpected natural disaster occurred during the shutdown, federal reimbursement for homes and small businesses would be delayed.
• Phillips added that a shutdown would disrupt training for first responders within FEMA.
• Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thomas Allan said that “shutdowns cripple morale and directly harm our ability to recruit and retain the talented Americans we need to meet growing demands.”
• Matthew Quinn, Deputy Director of the U.S. Secret Service said that a shutdown would halt the reforms the agency is trying to make in the aftermath of the attempted assassination of President Trump.
• As the Secret Service prepares for high profile security events this year and the Olympics in 2028, Quinn said, “Our difficult mission becomes exponentially harder during a government shutdown.”
• Madhu Gottumukkala, acting director of CISA – the agency responsible for securing physical and cyber infrastructure against threats – said, “Operations would be constrained and service delivery delayed in core mission areas such as cyber response, security assessments, stakeholder engagements, training exercises and special event planning.”
• One-third of CISA employees would work without pay “even when the nation-state actors intensify efforts to exploit the systems that Americans rely on.”
• The shutdown will also affect small businesses as business owners who rely on some work visas could see processing times delayed.
• The U.S. Travel Association, Airlines for America, and the American Hotel & Lodging Association issued a joint statement warning of the potential impacts a shutdown would have on their industries.

IMPACTS FROM THE SHUTDOWN ARE ALREADY BEING FELT NATIONWIDE

• Thousands of flights have been canceled and even thousands more delayed in just the first few days of the Democrats’ shutdown.
• TSA officers at the Salt Lake City International Airport are already feeling the stress of the shutdown, worrying if they will be able to pay their rent and bills.
• Tanja Fowler, American Federation of Government Employees Regional Vice President said, “To constantly be put back and forth through this ‘well we’re going to get paid, not get paid’ but yet we’re expected to show up for our jobs.”
• Another TSA employee in Utah said, “Rent’s due, mortgage is due, and all these bills are due at the beginning of the month and so that’s when it really hits home.”
• The shutdown is impacting TSA workers in Connecticut with employees already calling out of work.
• Tri-Cities Airport Authority President Gene Cossey stated, “The obvious problem would be if TSA loses employees…that’s not just a problem we will have here locally, it’s a problem that everybody will have across the country.”
• American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) local Vice President Joseph Groover said workers are still recovering from the last Democrat shutdown: “It’s taxing and it’s exhausting…there were people that finally just got their pay sorted…”
• A critical water project in Greeley, Colorado has been stalled because of the Democrats’ shutdown.
• The Gold Hill Pipeline – which would help local residents have access to clean drinking water if fires or natural disasters impact their water sources – has stopped construction because the funds are provided through the DHS budget.

DEMOCRATS CONTINUE TO DOUBLE DOWN ON HARMING AMERICANS

• Even though warnings and evidence are clear that a shutdown harms Americans, Democrats continue to dig in.
• Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear claims to understand that FEMA is crucial to Americans but wants Congressional Democrats to continue their shutdown.
• New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen referred to the shutdown as just “a little funding issue.”
• Arizona Rep. Adelita Grijalva blamed Republicans for the shutdown even though she and her fellow Democrats were the ones who voted for it.
• New Hampshire Rep. Gabe Amo said, “We cannot give another penny to the Department of Homeland Security.”
• Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro laughably said it was “fiction” that Democrats oppose funding for DHS even though she and her Democrat colleagues voted against funding the department.
• Massachusetts Rep. Jake Auchincloss defended his vote to not fund DHS saying, “In Washington you use the power that you have.”
• Colorado Rep. Jason Crow smugly went on CNN to show that he didn’t understand how the appropriations process works as he tried to gaslight their viewers.
• Illinois Rep. Chuy Garica, when asked what his message was to the countless TSA and FEMA employees who would work without pay, had a word salad: “The greatest abuses and trampling of American’s rights are occurring in the places that are in the news right now.”
• Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she wants Congressional Democrats to “hold the line for as long as they can,” and not vote to fund DHS.

Originally published here.