GOP Senators: We Can't Let DHS Shut Down
With only four legislative days left until DHS shuts down, more Republican Senators are coming out in support of immediate action to fund the Department (ie, that clean funding bill we’ve been talking about for weeks). Will their House GOP colleagues listen?
The Hill: Rubio: 'We can't let' DHS shut down
“Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Wednesday stressed the need to fund the Department of Homeland Security before a partial shutdown begins on Feb. 28.”
“‘We have to fund Homeland Security,’ Rubio said at a press conference in Las Vegas, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. ‘We can’t let Homeland Security shut down.’”
“Rubio suggested that Republicans should find another path forward for funding DHS now that Senate Democrats are blocking legislation that would roll back President Obama’s executive actions on immigration.”
“Lawmakers are away from Washington and will only have four legislative left next week to pass a new Homeland Security spending bill before the Feb. 28 deadline.”
The Hill: McCain to GOP: Let courts decide Obama's immigration actions, fund DHS
“Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Thursday said Congress should not let the Department Homeland Security (DHS) shut down because it appears the courts will decide the fate of President Obama's executive actions on immigration.”
“McCain didn't explicitly say Republicans should drop riders the House GOP attached to the DHS funding bill that would roll back Obama's immigration orders, but suggested that might be the best course of action.”
“‘It’s not a good idea to shut down the Department of Homeland Security,’ he said.”
DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson also issued a warning of the consequences of another short-term funding bill, which doesn’t provide national, state, or local governments with the resources they need to adequately plan ahead for programs that keep our communities safe and secure:
The Hill: DHS chief: Extending short-term funding like running low on gas
“Department of Homeland Security Secretary (DHS) Jeh Johnson late Tuesday said that another short-term funding bill for his department would be the equivalent of running low on gas on a long road trip.”
“‘When you're on a continuing resolution, it is a little like trying to drive cross-country with no more than five gallons of gas at a time and you don't know when the next gas station is. You can't plan. You can't plan except days and weeks at a time,’ Johnson said on Fox News’s ‘Special Report.’”
“Johnson explained the DHS is operating on 2014 levels because Congress only approved a continuing resolution (CR) for his department in December. If the House and Senate are unable to break the current stalemate over a 2015 DHS spending bill, lawmakers might have no choice but to extend the CR or deal with the repercussions of a government shutdown.”
“Another CR would continue to constrain the agency’s operations, Johnson said, and would prevent the DHS from paying for border security.”
“Congress is currently at an impasse over DHS funding because the GOP wants to tie riders to the spending bill that would roll back Obama’s immigration orders from 2011, 2012 and 2014.”
“A DHS shutdown would force 80 percent of its workforce to come to work without pay, Johnson said.”
Politico: DHS stalemate leaves local governments hanging
“Congress is most focused now on the threat of a shutdown next week if lawmakers cannot reach an agreement before DHS’s stopgap continuing resolution runs out on Feb. 27. But lost in this discussion is how much the past five months have already disrupted the department’s annual grant process, which is worth $1.6 billion to state and local governments writing their own budgets this summer.”
“That’s because a continuing resolution is just that: a temporary fix to ‘continue’ operations as they were before Oct. 1, the beginning of the current 2015 fiscal year. New grant applications for 2015 count as new starts, which are not authorized at this stage.”
“In the words of Craig Fugate, who oversees the grants as administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, it’s ‘a show-stopper.’”
“In House Speaker John Boehner’s native Ohio, the real-life stakes are well illustrated by a refinery explosion and fire that rocked the city of Lima last month.”
“The Allen County emergency management office, which relies on federal grant money for about 50 percent of its budget, had run an exercise just last May with fire, refinery and health personnel in preparation for such a hazard. ‘It’s a bad day when it happens,’ said Russell Decker, who ran the county office and just recently moved up to a state post. ‘But it could have been much worse if we didn’t have the funding to facilitate those training exercises.’”
“If and when Congress finally enacts a Homeland Security budget, FEMA will surely try to truncate the application process and make up for lost time. But Congress is already two months behind the pace of last year, when much of the money didn’t go out until June. And if the CR is simply extended without any adjustments, the lag will get only worse.”
“‘You budget with that grant in mind,’ said Wendy Smith-Reeve, director of the Arizona Division of Emergency Management, which must deal with a July 1 start to its budget year. ‘You’re planning a year in advance what you are going to execute. You are relying on that grant, and if that grant is not available as a funding resource then it’s a negative impact to your entire operation.’”
“The crunch appears to be greatest at the local level, and among smaller states with fewer resources than a California or New York.”
“The number of homeland security preparedness grants grew after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and today include $587 million to address the needs of dense urban areas like New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., which could be potential targets. Smaller, more narrowly focused programs exist for transit and port security as well. And while Congress is mired in a debate about immigration policy, the impacts of the delay are felt by Operation Stonegarden, a $55 million program to better secure roads from the Southwest border.”
“But the most time-sensitive money may be the estimated $350 million Emergency Management Performance Grant program, which goes back decades before Sept. 11 and fosters a national network of state and local managers to respond to all manner of hazards, natural and man-made.”
“Terrorism is part of its portfolio now, but the greater focus is on preparing for and managing the local response to the likes of storms, tornadoes, wildfires, train derailments — and refineries blowing up.”
“The National Emergency Management Association, which happens to be based in the home state of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), has stayed more in the background since its focus is more on state, not local, emergency managers. But the U.S. Conference of Mayors and International Association of Emergency Managers — representing the localities — have joined the counties in pressing the case for action in a series of letters to the Senate Appropriations Committee leadership.”