CAPAC Leaders Urge Passage of Clean Bill to Fund DHS for Full Year

Washington, D.C. – Today, House Republican leadership’s failure to gain a majority of votes for a three week extension means that the short-term funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which passed last December, will expire tonight at midnight. Approximately 30,000 DHS employees are now on the verge of being furloughed while another 169,000 will be required to work without pay.

Congresswoman Judy Chu (CA-27), CAPAC Chair:

“The Department of Homeland Security is too important to be a chip in a political game. This shutdown was manufactured in December so that Republicans could use DHS funding as a hostage in order to block the President’s executive action on immigration. This strategy attacks the millions of immigrant families who are finally able to come out of the shadows and live in dignity. And now that this artificial deadline has arrived, House Republicans lack any plan to keep our nation’s top security agency functioning. All this just to placate an extreme anti-immigrant wing of their party. This is completely unacceptable. DHS needs the certainty of year-long funding. Congress should not fund agencies days or weeks at a time. That kind of short-sighted strategy makes any long-term planning almost impossible.

“The Senate overwhelmingly passed a clean funding bill earlier today. Every House Democrat supports a clean bill. The President wants a clean bill. It is time to end these games and fund the Department of Homeland Security for a full year.”

Congressman Mike Honda (CA-17), CAPAC Chair Emeritus:

“House Republicans are playing a dangerous game with our national security due to the misguided idea that President Obama was not acting lawfully with his immigration Executive Actions. Holding the Department of Homeland Security’s budget hostage is inexcusable.

“We should never have gotten to this stage. If Speaker Boehner had brought the Senate immigration bill to the House floor last year we would have had comprehensive immigration reform already. Then we wouldn’t have needed to go through this charade just to fund this important agency. We need a bill that, like the Senate bill, fully funds DHS through September and has zero strings attached.”

Background:

Failure to fund DHS will  have a severe impact on border patrol, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Coast Guard, and the Secret Service. A DHS shutdown will also halt state and local grants that are used for emergency management and security.

The 3-week extension failed by a vote of 203-224.

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The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) is comprised of Members of Congress of Asian and Pacific Islander descent and Members who have a strong dedication to promoting the well-being of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. Currently chaired by Congresswoman Judy Chu, CAPAC has been addressing the needs of the AAPI community in all areas of American life since it was founded in 1994.