McConnell Urges Senate Democrats To End Filibuster of Homeland Security Funding Bill
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding Senate Democrats’ filibuster of the DHS funding bill:
“It was good to see the new Senate come together and pass another bipartisan bill yesterday.
“It was a win for our nation’s heroes. And it was yet another win for the American people.
“But that was only one of the votes we took.
“Because just hours after joining Republicans to do something good for our veterans, Democrats voted to block funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
“It was enough to give anyone whiplash.
“And now Americans are wondering: What could possibly lead Democrats to filibuster Homeland Security funding?
“The legislation Democrats are filibustering would fund the Department of Homeland Security. It would also protect American democracy from kinds of overreach described by President Obama as ‘unwise and unfair.’
“That’s it.
“You’d think a bill like this would pass overwhelmingly.
“You’d think, at the very least, that Democrats would allow the Senate an opportunity to improve the bill if it needs to be.
“But Democrats voted to filibuster the bill outright. They prevented the legislation from even being debated.
“Today’s Democrat Party seems willing to go to any extreme to protect the kind of executive overreach President Obama once described as ‘not how our democracy functions’ – even to block Homeland Security funding to get its way.
“The whole situation is a bit perplexing too, given what some of our colleagues said just a few weeks ago; given what they said about overreach President Obama referred to as ‘ignoring the law.’
“One Democrat Senator said that ‘the President shouldn’t make such significant policy changes on his own.’
“Another Senator claimed he was ‘concerned about the constitutional separation of powers.’
“‘The Constitution,’ he said, ‘doesn’t say ‘if the Congress fails to act then the president can do x, y and z.’ It just doesn’t…’
“And a third Democrat Senator had this to say of the president’s plan for overreach: ‘[it] makes me uncomfortable.’
“And yet, all of these Senators voted to shut down debate and block funding for the Homeland Security Department. Every last Democrat voted to filibuster rather than work across the aisle to address the very issue they claimed to be concerned about.
“Perhaps today’s Democrat Party is so devoted to the right of politicians to engage in action that would, as President Obama once seemed to imply, ‘violate the law,’ that it cannot tolerate dissent.
“But this is no reason to shut down the Department of Homeland Security. This is no reason to prevent the Senate from even debating whether not to fund this department.
“So the Democrats’ Homeland Security filibuster needs to end now. And Democrat Senators who say they’re serious about keeping our nation safe — and addressing what President Obama acknowledged as ‘unwise and unfair’ overreach — need to prove it.”
Related Issues: Immigration, Senate Democrats, Executive Orders, Appropriations, Veterans
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