Hoyer Discusses Republicans' DHS Shutdown Threat on MSNBC's "Morning Joe"

WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" this morning to discuss the need for Republicans to stop playing games with our national security and pass a clean bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security before it shuts down on February 28. Below are excerpts from the interview and a link to the video. 

Click here for the video.

“The fact of the matter is the CR gives very limited funding ability to the [Department of Homeland Security]. Jeh Johnson, the Secretary [of DHS] has made it very clear this is undermining their ability to act now. The irony is, Joe, we don't have any disagreement on the bill itself. Essentially, it was reported out by Republican Appropriations Committee and agreed to on a bipartisan basis in the United States Senate and House of Representatives.”

“The irony is the court's decision had nothing to do that which they're going to defund. In fact, as you know, the visa department runs on fees. That's not going to be defunded. So the irony is, that which they're defunding is not the operations of the Department of Homeland Security [that are] going to deal directly with the problem they have. I don't think anybody contemplated shutting down the Department of Homeland Security at a time of high risk to our country and to our people. It makes no sense. I think it's a political tantrum, frankly.”

“Thirty thousand people, administrative personnel are going to be laid off. There are… almost 200,000 people who are going to be working but not paid. You're demoralizing an agency we need to have on high alert, high morale, confronting the terrorist threats that we know are out there.”