President Obama used the rollout of his budget Monday to pressure Republicans to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security, accusing conservatives of putting the protection of the nation at risk.
“What we can’t do is play politics with folks’ economic security or with our national security,” Obama said from DHS headquarters in Washington.
Speaking directly to Republicans, he added, “Don’t jeopardize our national security over this disagreement” on immigration.
DHS funding is set to run out on Feb. 28.
To avoid a government shutdown, lawmakers agreed to fund DHS through late February. Conservatives argued that with control of both chambers of Congress, they had more leverage to confront Obama on the most extensive change to the immigration system in decades.
Republicans now insist they can simultaneously roll back Obama’s executive action to spare up to 5 million illegal immigrants from deportation, while not imperiling the funding for national security efforts.
“Americans are looking for real solutions, not political stunts,” said Cory Fritz, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. “The president told the American people 22 times he could not take the unilateral immigration actions that he did. Twenty-two times he said it would exceed his authority. The House has acted in strong fashion to pass a bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security and blocks President Obama’s executive overreach, and now it’s the Senate’s turn.”
Obama argues that Republicans are flirting with taking away paychecks from national security workers on the front lines.
According to the White House, 40,000 Border Patrol agents, 50,000 Transportation Security Administration workers, 13,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, 40,000 Coast Guard members and 4,000 Secret Service officers would not get paid if DHS funding lapsed.
