Celia Israel: “I want to start by reading a quote from today's Politico: A faction of House and Senate conservatives is pushing…”

“I want to start by reading a quote from today's Politico: A faction of House and Senate conservatives is pushing Republican leaders to take the battle over the Homeland Security Department to the brink, arguing the party would win the public relations war with Democrats if a standoff over immigration led to a shutdown of the agency. A public relations war. This is about the war on terror. In 16 days, the people who protect us from that war will lose their jobs or have to work without pay. We are 16 days away from a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security and instead of planning how to protect us from our enemies, DHS is preparing contingency budgets in case this Republican Congress decides to shut them down. To protect themselves from their political base in a fight on immigration, Republicans are willing to disrupt the protection of the American people in our communities, at our airports, our ports, and our borders. Mr. Speaker, the bad guys have to be watching this and saying: Are you serious? We should be serious about our homeland security and our economic security. ____________________”