Congress remains deadlocked on funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as GOP lawmakers warn of heightened threats to the U.S. in the aftermath of Saturday’s Iran strikes.
Republican lawmakers such as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and New York Rep. Andrew Garbarino, who chairs the Homeland Security committee, have highlighted the necessity of DHS funding over concerns of potential retaliatory terror attacks. A deadly Sunday mass shooting outside a bar in Austin, Texas — in which the suspected assailant wore pro-Iran and pro-Islam clothing — has made the threat of terrorist sleeper cells a prominent concern as major metro areas across the nation enforce heightened security measures.
“The threats of terrorism are higher right now and our forces are on alert because we are actively taking out the Iranian leadership and the Ayatollah,” Cruz said during Monday morning appearance on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends.” “It is shocking that the Democrats continue to defund the Department of Homeland Security. We need a fully funded Department of Homeland Security at a time when terrorism threats are higher.”
Coast Guard service members, some of which played a role in the Iran strikes, according to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, missed a paycheck Friday, and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents only received a partial paycheck that week. The State Department has also introduced new challenges for TSA agents to balance as heightened security measures bring forth airspace closures and delays.
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Secret Service and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are also still managing the strained funds as the East Coast braces for more severe winter weather and the nation’s capital prepares for lawmakers to return in the coming days. Capitol Hill is now surrounded by additional fencing, and the District is strengthening police presence in Metro stations over the next several days, per Metro Transit Police.
FBI Director Kash Patel also called for counterterrorism teams to be “on high alert” and ready to mobilize following the Iran strikes this weekend. The bureau is also investigating the Austin shooting as a “potential nexus to terrorism.”
Garbarino pointed to “Iranian-backed terror plots” the New York Police Department (NYPD) has thwarted in the past as the city’s police department enhances their patrols and resources while strikes on Iran continue.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries sidestepped a question on CNN Monday morning on the threat level New York may be facing as a result of these strikes, telling Kate Bolduan, “We should all be concerned.” Jeffries added that he is waiting to see what the administration presents in a briefing with Congressional leaders Monday evening.
“How does this make any of us safer here in the United States of America, launching this preemptive war against Iran that apparently is a regime change war that has no justification for it connected to the threats that were directed at American interest?” Jeffries said on CNN.
The House will move to vote again on the DHS funding bill on Thursday in hopes of getting Democrats to budge on funds, but some lawmakers are digging their heels in.
“We can do two things at once,” Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said on CBS Sunday. “We can demand that ICE stop murdering American citizens, and we can demand that the administration not send our kids to die for a war that we don’t need.”
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