On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Source,” former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said that he fears the DHS shutdown “is doing irreparable harm” to the TSA and “The object of the fight that Democrats are putting up resistance over, CBP and ICE, are actually being funded through discretionary funding within the Department of Homeland Security.”
Johnson said, “I’m not taking sides in the current political fight. I do feel that someone needs to speak for the 250,000 workers at the Department of Homeland Security and the American people. I think what’s happening right now in this funding fight is sheer insanity. There will be no winners when this thing gets resolved, however it’s resolved. There will be only losers. The object of the fight that Democrats are putting up resistance over, CBP and ICE, are actually being funded through discretionary funding within the Department of Homeland Security. Meanwhile, the TSA, the agency of our government that interacts most with the American people, is not being funded, to the detriment of aviation security and American travelers. … So, this is a real crisis, and it’s a real meltdown. I worry that it is doing irreparable harm to the agency of our government that is charged with aviation security in this country.”
Later, host Kaitlan Collins asked, “If you had to give a succinct message to Democrats and Republicans here in Washington on this, what would you say to them?”
Johnson answered, “Stop coupling policy disagreements in Congress with funding. The most basic obligation of Congress is to keep the lights on and fund the government. That’s what the American people sent them there for. We have to get out of the business of once a year, now, more than once a year, of having these shutdowns because of policy disagreements in Washington.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
Read the full article here