Gutierrez: I’ll Shut Down DHS Instead of Vote for Short-Term Funding

Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) said he would not vote for the House’s three-week DHS funding extension, even if doing so means DHS shuts down on Friday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” on MSNBC.

“No, I’m not going to vote for the three-week extension [one that, according to the Associated Press, is “expected to also pass the Senate and gain Obama’s signature”]. Many of the same lack of security issues for the homeland will occur if the uncertainty is there” he said.

Gutierriez was then asked “but Congressman, given how vital you are arguing this [funding DHS] is, if Speaker Boehner can’t get to 218 votes with Republicans, will you not vote yes to keep DHS open?” He responded, “here’s what’s going to happen. The Republicans will have to put up the votes on their own,” a prospect that he himself said was uncertain.

Without the three-week measure, the other prospects for keeping DHS open would be the original House bill stripping funding for the president’s executive action on immigration, which has been blocked by Senate Democrats, and the Senate’s bill funding DHS for a year and leaving the executive action untouched, which, according to NBC News, is “a non-starter in the House.”

He also declared “think about it one moment. Why would we risk the future of our nation and risk the security of our nation when they say they’re coming after our people at malls, you know that, I know that, after what’s happened in Paris, France? after — with just the arrest this week and what the FBI Director has told us about looming threats throughout the nation?” And “don’t put politics ahead of the national interest.”

Gutierriez concluded by saying that DHS would remain open “one way or another.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett