Republicans Slam Republicans for DHS Recklessness

Mere hours after Senator Lindsey Graham said Republicans would be to blame if DHS shut down, Republican Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security Rep. Michael McCaul took to the airwaves to chide the GOP for playing politics with the security of America's families:

"I fully believe we should be not be playing politics with the national security agency like the Department of Homeland Security particularly given the high threat environment that we're in right now…It would be irresponsible for lawmakers and policy makers to shut down the national security agency at this very grave time." [CNN, 2/23]

Republican Senator Ron Johnson also added his voice to the growing chorus of Republicans urging the radical right to drop its dangerous games on DHS:

"The political impasse on DHS funding must end. Responsible members of both parties must work together to find some way to fund DHS without further delay." [2/23]

And former GOP Governor and the nation's first DHS Secretary Tom Ridge:

"It irritates the hell out of me," Tom Ridge, the first Homeland Security secretary and a former two-term Pennsylvania governor, said in an interview.  "I think it is political folly. I think it is bad policy. I think the political repercussions could be very severe. And on top of that, the men and women of Homeland Security deserve better." [2/23]

There are only 5 days left until the Department of Homeland Security shuts down.  Republican leaders should listen to the members of their own party who are pleading with them to stop putting the politics of right-wing radicals over the safety of American families.  It's time to join Democrats to protect the American people and pass a clean bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security immediately.