White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the President is calling on Congress to return to Washington, DC, to “do its job” and reopen the government after lawmakers fled town on vacation, leaving many Department of Homeland Security employees without a paycheck.
This comes after the Senate passed a garbage funding bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, but without funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and ditched town.
President Trump on Sunday called the Senate’s funding measure “a shame” and said the Senate Republicans need to stop “playing it too soft” and terminate the filibuster while speaking to reporters on Air Force One. Of Senate Leader Thune, Trump said, “I like him so much. He’s a high-quality person,” but added that he needs to step it up and lead in order to pass the SAVE America Act and reopen the government with full funding for DHS.
Trump on Friday signed an executive order authorizing pay for TSA agents to alleviate the chaos at airports, but other functions of DHS, including the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Administration, remain defunded.
When asked by a reporter how long Trump’s funding for TSA can last, Leavitt slammed Congress, stating, “the President just can’t keep signing presidential memorandums and proclamations every time Congress fails to do its job and every time Democrats are holding our entire country hostage, picking and choosing which programs and agencies they want to fund just because they don’t like this administration’s policies.”
“That’s not how it’s supposed to work,” she said, adding that Trump is “encouraging Congress to come back to Washington to permanently fix this problem and to fund and reopen the Department of Homeland Security entirely.”
WATCH:
Reporter: How long can the administration keep paying TSA without action from Congress? And not to be hyperbolic, but given the airports were really the pain point that was pushing both sides to talk to each other. Do you see a way for DHS to reopen? Is it possible this keeps going through the midterms?
Leavitt: Well, we certainly hope so. I mean, of course, the President just can’t keep signing presidential memorandums and proclamations every time Congress fails to do its job and every time Democrats are holding our entire country hostage, picking and choosing which programs and agencies they want to fund just because they don’t like this administration’s policies.
That’s not how it’s supposed to work. They voted seven times against funding DHS over partisan and political reasons, and so again, the President has stepped in to do the right thing at this moment in time, but the President is also encouraging Congress to come back to Washington to permanently fix this problem and to fund and reopen the Department of Homeland Security entirely.
Leavitt later went off on Congress again, calling the need for White House intervention to fund critical agencies “ridiculous” and demanding that Congress “come back” to “do its job.”
The President will always look into ways that we can make sure that the American people are being taken care of and doing what’s right by the American people. But again, it’s ridiculous that the President even has to go to the length of working with the legal team and the Office of Management and Budget to identify these funds. It is the job of Congress to fund these agencies. And Democrats in Congress have voted seven times against funding the Department of Homeland Security. Congress should come back, and they should get it done. The President, again, made the decision to prevent this existential crisis we were seeing at our nation’s airports across the country that was only going to get worse, and that’s why he wants Congress to do its job.
She further confirmed that President Trump has urged Congress to cancel Easter recess and is even offering to hold an Easter dinner at the White House if Congress returns to session over the holiday.
WATCH:
Reporter: Has he told leadership that they should cancel recess and come back?
Leavitt: He said it repeatedly. I think you recall he said that he’ll host a big Easter dinner here at the White House if Congress will come back and fight the Democrats on this issue, which we should do because, again, the Democrat Party is in the wrong here. They have voted seven times against funding the Department of Homeland Security, which is completely egregious with everything we have going on in the world, and these brave men and women who serve DHS deserve to get their paychecks. The President wants to see that happen, and he wants Congress to come back to get it done.
As The Gateway Pundit reported, Lindsey Graham was spotted at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, over the weekend, strutting around with a toy bubble wand in hand, as DHS employees are trying to figure out how they’re going to eat with no paycheck.
(VIDEO) Tim Burchett Eviscerates Senate RINOs for Refusal to Fund Government and Pass SAVE Act, Calls for Thune to be Replaced as Leader
The post WATCH: Press Sec Calls Slams Congress, Demands Senators Return from Vacation to Reopen Government – Says Trump will Host Easter Dinner for Senators if They Return appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.