Editorial Roundup of Republican Manufactured Crisis: GOP Leadership 'Should Not' Hold Homeland Security Hostage
Buffalo News Editorial – Republicans in Congress can't allow Homeland Security to be shut down
Here we go again. Congressional Republicans are threatening to shut down part of the government because they are in a twist over President Obama's executive actions on immigration…Worse yet, it is the Department of Homeland Security that is in their gunsights and, worst of all, they are threatening to defund it just as a Somali terror organization is encouraging homicidal assaults in American, Canadian and British shopping malls. Are they kidding?
Washington Post Editorial – On immigration policy, the GOP is out of touch with the rest of America
Congressional Republicans are so busy this week flirting with a partial government shutdown — their target is the Department of Homeland Security and its 240,000 employees — that they may have missed fresh evidence of how badly out of step with the American public they are on the issue of illegal immigration… As it happens, 60 percent of Americans — and roughly equal segments of Republicans, Democrats and independents — oppose the GOP's tactic of threatening homeland security funding as a means to subvert the Obama administration's immigration policy. According to a new CBS News poll, a clear majority thinks the department's funding "should be kept separate from immigration policy."
New York Times Editorial – Holding Homeland Security Hostage
Republicans in the House…intent on thwarting President Obama's executive action on immigration, have been unwilling to back away from the dangerous impasse on this issue in their party… If the department is not financed, 30,000 people would be furloughed. Most of the department's employees would be considered "essential" and asked to show up to work even though they wouldn't be getting paid.
Baltimore Sun Editorial – No time to make America less safe
Innocent people are being attacked in Copenhagen and Paris. Egyptian Christians have been beheaded by terrorists in Libya. Foreign cyber-attacks are on the upswing…So naturally, it's time to allow a possible shutdown of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security by Congress…causing Americans to be less safe when the Charlie Hebdo and Copenhagen attacks are fresh on their minds is not going to gain them anything.
Oakland Tribune Editorial – Not funding Homeland is a mistake
So here we sit -- again -- on a precipice apparently about to jump back into that federal-government-shutdown morass. This time it is not the entire federal government, mind you, just the part that keeps the homeland safe from terror attacks and such…But some Republicans in Congress seem hellbent on shutting down funding for the huge Department of Homeland Security…
Tampa Bay Editorial – House Republicans should not hold Homeland Security hostage
Congressional Republicans are taking a dangerous path by holding funding for the Department of Homeland Security hostage unless President Barack Obama's latest executive orders on immigration are repealed. Even by Washington standards for manufactured crises, this is a reckless strategy that puts cities, border states and families at risk.
Idaho Statesman Editorial– Shut government down? Watch it, GOP
There have got to be at least 2016 reasons why anybody in Congress with a lick of sense should avoid association with Government Shutdown II (GSII) should it come to that on Friday or next week…The GOP - your "New Republican Congress"…introduced this group as a body that was going to govern and get things done…Stubbornness and pride are emotions that have no place in a brand-new Congress. How long can we continue to squander freedom? History says not much longer.
Standard-Times Editorial– GOP has stymied itself with impasse
The shutdown is a land mine the Republicans planted themselves. In October, Congress voted an omnibus bill funding the entire government until the end of the current fiscal year, Sept. 30, with one exception — DHS.
Metro West Daily News Editorial – The stalemate over Homeland Security funding
So far, House Republicans prefer to fulminate, grandstand and vent their fury - which will be nothing compared with the fury directed at them if a critical department of government is shuttered.
Las Cruces Sun-News Editorial – Public safety at risk in pending shutdown
In 2013, Congress shut down the federal government for 13 days in a failed attempt to defund the Affordable Care Act. Members have apparently learned nothing from that mistake…Another shutdown is pending in less than a week. But this time it won't be museums and national monuments that will be affected, but rather the agency designed to protect us from the type of terrorist attacks we've seen spreading in places like Paris and Coppenhagen, Denmark.
Star-Telegram Editorial – Congress should fund DHS
…the Department of Homeland Security, the nation's conglomerate domestic security agency, will partly shut down when funding runs out on Friday…The House would do well to accept the compromise.
Los Angeles Times Editorial – The government shutdown du jour
Reprising a scene that lawmakers have acted out too often in the last four years, Congress is heading for a partial government shutdown this week because of a Republican attempt to repeal one of President Obama's high-profile initiatives…Republicans have control of both chambers now; it's time they tried to fix the problems in immigration law.
Star-Ledger Editorial – On immigration, GOP will pay for obstruction
…by blocking Obama's reasonable attempts to keep families together in the face of Republican obstructionism, it guarantees that passions will remain boiling during the 2016 president race, and that Republicans will take a well-deserved pounding from Latinos -- and from millions more who sympathize with their efforts to live a normal life in America…
Sacramento Bee Editorial – Playing games with real lives and national security
If Congress were a kid, it would have been sent to bed without dinner long ago for playing a dangerous game of chicken with public safety. The Department of Homeland Security is not a toy…That's enough. It's time for the Republican-led Congress to show Americans it knows how to govern. The first step is not to use the lives of real people as playthings and pass a funding bill for DHS.
Syracuse Editorial – Keep funding for Homeland Security funding out of immigration reform
Congressional Republicans are holding the government hostage, again…If Congress has a problem with the president granting temporary deportation relief and work authorization to as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants, it can take up immigration reform at any time…Let's keep homeland security out of it.
Miami Herald Editorial – Homeland insecurity
Congressional Republicans bungled just about every chance to take action on immigration reform…DHS should not be the political football with which the Republican-controlled Congress attempts to score a touchdown against President Obama.