On Wednesday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) argued that the DHS shutdown didn’t backfire because “what was really important to my constituents is that they saw us fighting to get basic, commonsense guardrails on how these reckless and lawless federal agents were behaving. And we might not be in power in Washington, but people expect to see us using our power to fight for them.”
Co-host Kailey Leinz asked, “Well, when we consider the Republican reconciliation package, Senator, obviously, it would be an aim to fund ICE and CBP for three-and-a-half years. Republicans would be able to do this on a partisan basis. Therefore, Democrats are not going to get many of the reforms to ICE and CBP that were sought in the aftermath of the events in your state and the death, by shooting…of two American citizens. Is it enough for your constituents in Minnesota that Democrats tried here, or is this, actually, potentially, an area in which Democratic efforts to do this ultimately backfired?”
Smith answered, “No, I think that what was really important to my constituents is that they saw us fighting to get basic, commonsense guardrails on how these reckless and lawless federal agents were behaving. And we might not be in power in Washington, but people expect to see us using our power to fight for them. And, honestly, it is on the Republicans who refused to even agree to basic commonsense reforms that their local police departments have to abide by. And, at the end of the day, here in the Senate, in a bipartisan way, I think the last time, unanimously, we voted and passed legislation to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security, except for ICE and Customs and Border Patrol. And so, here we are now in this sort of ridiculous situation, and I just want to see those — that’s why I voted to make sure that the Coast Guard and FEMA and the rest of the Department of Homeland Security that is providing important services to Americans, that those folks get paid while we continue to have this major disagreement about how ICE is operating in this country.”
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