Bishop Urges House GOP Leaders to Vote on Senate Bipartisan Bill to Fund Homeland Security

WASHINGTON – Tonight, Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (GA-02) issued the following statement after U.S. House Republican leaders prevented a bipartisan bill that would fund the Department of Homeland Security from being voted on after it had been passed in the U.S. Senate by unanimous consent:

“Congress must pay the TSA, Coast Guard, FEMA, and other public safety agencies while we negotiate commonsense reforms to ICE and CBP in response to their aggressive actions which have hurt, and even killed, American citizens and law-abiding immigrant families. Americans demand accountability and transparency.

“Ignoring these concerns, House Republican leaders repeatedly sent partisan Homeland Security funding bills to the Senate over the past several weeks, all of which were voted down.

“Now, this morning, Senate Democrats and Republicans negotiated a solution to fund Homeland Security which passed by unanimous consent. Even President Trump was signaling that he was supportive of the bill. We could have ended the shutdown today!

“Instead, House Republican leaders, have said the House cannot vote on a bipartisan bill and instead insist on sending yet another bill to the Senate that cannot pass.

“Our federal workers at our airports, disaster assistance, the Coast Guard – and the millions of Americans who rely on them – all hang in the balance. I am confident that if the House could vote on today’s Senate funding bill, the House would pass it and end this chaos.”

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