U.S. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Montgomery) thinks the recent assassination attempt against President Donald Trump should be a “wake up call” to Democrats who still are blocking efforts to fund the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

An alleged gunman attempted to enter the White House Correspondence Dinner Saturday night. The Trump family and other top officials had to be evacuated. The gunman was stopped and arrested by Secret Service before getting close to the president.

“I hope this is a wake up call about DHS funding,” Britt told reporters Monday. “I mean, y’all we’re 72 days without a department funded. Many of you know this, and some of you have brought light to it.”

DHS is the lone major department still not funded after Congress enacted full-year FY2026 spending for most of the rest of government earlier this month, leaving Homeland Security on a short-term patch. Democrat leaders are demanding radical reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) before they vote to fully open up the government.

The senator also called out the hypocrisy of her colleagues on the other side of the aisle.

“But when you’re looking at DHS funding, in looking at when we run out of money, when we stop paying people, you know that that time is coming,” she said. “I think it is absolutely ridiculous that we will have members of Congress that are going to fly off to other nations while our Homeland Security is unfunded.”

Britt believes Democrats are putting partisan politics ahead of national security.

“We have a real obligation, both to the people of this country, to have a secure border and to have safe streets, and also to the people who stepped up raised their hand to serve our nation and the Department of Homeland Security to keep Americans safe, to actually ensure that they get a paycheck,” she exclaimed. “You think about the men and women of the Secret Service. You think about the mission of the Secret Service, it has gone unfunded for 72 days, and it is absolutely ridiculous.”

“Now is the time to act,” she added. “I am hopeful, and you will hear more of this from Senator Schmidt, but it now is the time for Democrats to step forward and to figure out what a pathway forward looks like, and to realize we have to put the good of the nation front and center, and whether it is this ballroom or just funding DHS, now is the time to act.”

Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee