Jackson Lee: Dems ‘Held Up and Blocked’ DHS Funding

On Tuesday’s “Washington Journal” on C-SPAN, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) declared that Senate Democrats “held up and blocked” DHS funding, two days after DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said Democrats were “not blocking debate” on DHS funding.

“Last night, the Senate, rightly so, the Democrats, held up and blocked, and the bill was not successful to have DHS funding tied to the elimination of the executive orders — the executive actions, of course. Rightly so” she stated.

Jackson Lee also said, “last night, the Senate failed again to pass the DHS bill that the Republicans put forward, which is to defund DHS and to eliminate the president’s executive actions. You would almost say that that bill is moot because there is a court proceeding as we speak, and the court has rendered a temporary judgment, if you will. So now, rightly so, the Majority Leader, which I believe should have been done weeks ago, weeks ago, in the climate that we are in, with heightened actions of ISIL, this is a foolish discussion.”

Jackson Lee’s statement contradicts Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson’s declaration on “Fox News Sunday” that “Democrats are not blocking debate” on Homeland Security funding.  Yesterday, White Press Secretary Josh Earnest blasted “the thought that Congress, because they’re not willing to do their job, is going to put these patriotic Americans in a position of not being able to collect a paycheck even though they’re doing theirs — even though they’re doing the important work of keeping the country safe.” And “the fact that you’ve got more than 100,000 Americans who work at the Department of Homeland Security, who work to keep us safe, who are not going to get a paycheck just because Congress isn’t doing their job.”

(h/t The Blaze)

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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