Patty Murray: “right now, TSA agents are going without pay because Republicans and the White House have decided they would rather shut…”

“right now, TSA agents are going without pay because Republicans and the White House have decided they would rather shut down all of DHS than pass some very basic reforms to rein in ICE and Border Patrol. For weeks on end, Democrats have been very crystal clear about what measures need to be put in place before a full DHS bill can pass. These are steps that the American people are demanding and that local police departments across the country already follow. And we have also been clear that when it comes to reining in these out-of-control Agencies and preventing more Americans from being shot and killed by masked Federal agents, half steps are not going to cut it. But Republicans are acting like they have no idea what the problem is or what Democrats and what the American people are demanding here. And now Republicans are not only dragging their feet on the basic reforms, they are refusing to fund TSA and FEMA and other important DHS functions while these negotiations continue. Now, in my view, that is just plain wrong. If Republicans are going to drag their feet on commonsense reforms to protect their own constituents from having their door broken in by masked Federal agents without so much as a warrant, then they should, at a minimum, work with us to make sure that TSA is funded. At a minimum, we should make sure that disaster relief is not put at risk and that our cyber defense agency is fully operational.”