House Democratic leaders and much of their caucus expressed support for the Senate-passed bill to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security as they emerged from a closed-door meeting Friday.
“The only thing standing between ending this chaos or not are House Republicans,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said. “There’s a bipartisan bill that emerged from the Senate with uniform support, and it should be brought to the floor immediately so we can pay TSA agents, so we can end the chaos at airports across the country and stop inconveniencing millions of Americans.”
Democrats say they want to end the six-week DHS shutdown Friday, when TSA agents were slated to be paid, rather than drag things through the weekend and potentially into a scheduled two-week recess. Multiple Democrats said they are encouraged the Senate’s legislation resembles a proposal led by the top Democratic appropriator, Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, to fund DHS without including immigration enforcement agencies.
As of Friday morning, 207 House Democrats had signed on to an effort to force a floor vote on that bill.
“I believe, and my colleagues believe, that we need to get the government funded,” Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said. “What the Senate has done is essentially the bill that we proposed.”
Several Democrats left the door open to supporting procedural measures allowing the bill to pass in the event Republican leaders cannot unite their own members to pass it. Many GOP lawmakers expressed anger with the Senate product Friday, throwing its future in doubt.
“We are willing to do whatever is necessary to pay TSA agents to end the chaos and to stop inconveniencing millions of Americans,” Jeffries said.
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