By Steven Allen Adams
For The Parkersburg News and Sentinel
Charleston – With the federal funding shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security entering day 41 Thursday, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said she and her colleagues are determined to come to a deal prior to Congress’ traditional break.
“It’s a beautiful day here in Washington, but it’s a frustrating one for me,” said Capito, R-W.Va., during a Thursday morning conference call with West Virginia reporters. “Today’s day number 41 of the shutdown of our Department of Homeland Security. This has got to come to an end.”
Up to Thursday, Republican and Democratic senators had been unable to come to an agreement to fund most of the functions of Homeland Security, while working on a plan to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement through a different mechanism at a later date.
“I have voted over 15 times to open DHS with reforms that the Democrats had asked for, and they refuse to reach a conclusion here,” Capito said.
The partial shutdown began on Feb. 14. While essential services remain funded, some DHS employees – including Transportation Security Administration officers – have continued to work without pay. The DHS shutdown is affecting certain services within the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Secret Service, Customs and Border Protection and the Coast Guard as well.
“Now what do we see? We see enormous lines at TSA counters. We see our Coast Guard, our Secret Service, FEMA, not being paid,” Capito said. “It’s a total disservice. They’re now going to miss three paychecks, and that’s an untenable situation.
“I’m sure many of them as we speak are either A, unable to come in to work, or B, looking for other jobs,” she continued. “These are jobs that are critical to the safety of the United States. Some of them are investigative jobs. Some of them are public service and public health and safety jobs, like our TSA, our Coast Guard and Secret Service. It is absolutely critical in these times that we have a functioning DHS.”
Speaking to Politico Thursday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he had presented a final offer to the Democratic minority in the Senate.
“I think the Dems are now in possession of what I think is our last and final” offer, he said. “So let’s hope this gets it done.”
The Senate voted Monday to confirm Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., as the new DHS cabinet secretary, succeeding former South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, whose tenure was marked with controversy due to aggressive immigration enforcement actions by CBP and ICE, which resulted in the fatal shootings of two individuals.
“We have a new head of DHS,” Capito said. “I was with him last night. He is working hard to try to figure out a way to bring everybody to the table and negotiate this settlement.”
The traditional two-week recess for Congress begins this weekend, but Capito said the Senate has no intentions of leaving Capitol Hill until a partial DHS funding deal is in place.
“I don’t think that we are planning to leave here until we resolve this situation,” she said. “So, hopefully for the sake of the country we will resolve this issue.”
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