GOP Tries to Defund Department of Homeland Security to Get Back at Obama

by John Paul Brammer

Republicans have done some confusing things in the past, things that have left us collectively scratching our heads and wondering, “Why?”

This is one of those times, but it might be one of their craziest moves yet.

The GOP is trying to defund the Department of Homeland Security, the government entity in charge of protecting the border, to get back at President Obama for his executive order on immigration.

And now DHS is on the verge of a partial shutdown.

Remember when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said there would be no shutdowns on his watch? Here’s hoping he remembers too.

Democratic Senator Ed Markey from Massachusetts made a solemn plea for logic and reason, saying he would tell Republican leaders to:

“…Tell their most radical members that the DHS must be funded, and must be funded this week.”

But the GOP has already become death, destroyer of worlds, and is beyond the feeble powers of logic and reason. Rep. Matt Salmon from Arizona said:

“America needs leadership to confront an out-of-control executive, and a Congress willing to defend the separation of powers. We must either be that Congress or acquiesce to the demands of a president intent on assuming the powers of a king.”

If Congress cannot come to an agreement by Friday at midnight, DHS will partially shut down. Which is extra terrible considering most DHS employees are considered “essential” and must report to work anyway.

They just won’t get paid.

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Editor's Note: The republican house still in denial refused to pass a bill funding Homeland but did pass a lame bill funding the department for one week longer so they could still try and weasel out of their responsibility and the blame for their failure to do their job in the eleventh hour Friday evening. So the farce will continue for another week as the republicans as usual lurch from self-made 'crisis' to self-made 'crisis' and the rest of us get more disgusted with them daily.