U.S. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Montgomery) is losing patience with her colleagues on the other side of the aisle over the fact that they refuse to negotiate to fund the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
DHS is the lone major department that was not funded by Congress when they enacted the full-year FY2026 spending for most of the rest of government.
Britt, chair of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, joined Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.Dak.), Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), and other members of Senate Republican leadership to discuss the ongoing Democrat-led shutdown of the DHS.
“It’s a disappointing day,” Britt lamented. “We are 38, 39 days past when we decided we would do a two-week CR, which we gave the Democrats in good faith to be able to have a conversation about the proper way to fund the Department of Homeland Security moving forward. We are now 24, 25 days into a government shutdown with a department that is actually charged with keeping Americans safe… This is reckless and it’s disingenuous.”
The U.S. House already passed a measure to get that part of the government open, but it has been stalled in the upper chamber. Democrat leaders are demanding radical reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) before they vote to fully open up the government.
“Here [Democrats] are telling you they want to see reforms, but I am here to tell you that they have not come to the table,” Britt continued. “Despite countless offers to sit down and try to find a pathway forward, they will not even have a conversation with us. So, you are 38, 39 days past when we decided this pathway forward and agreed to them to work on this, and they have not sat down one time. Folks, that means that this is all about politics. It was never about people.”
The senator implored Democrats to at least come to the table and talk for the good of America’s national security.
“We stand here ready to put the safety of Americans in front of that, and I would hope our Democratic colleagues would do the same,” she said. “But at the very least, they must answer for that: Not being willing to have a conversation, not being willing to figure out a pathway forward. [Republicans] certainly are. We stand ready to do that. We stand ready to do what’s right for the American people.”
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
