House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul said that “we should be not be playing politics with the Department of Homeland Security” on Monday’s “@This Hour” on CNN.
McCaul said that, “we passed a bill that fully funds the Department, I think responsibly. It’s up to the Senate to what they determine, what they send back to the House and we will probably see something come back from the Senate this week, and then we have to make some tough choices. But, Kate, I fully believe that we shouldn’t be playing politics with a national security agency like Homeland Security, particularly given the high threat that we’re in right now, as we look at ISIS, as we look at this latest pronouncement out of Al Shabaab. i’m very, very concerned that a paris style attack could occur in the united states anytime anywhere, and it would be irresponsible for lawmakers and policy makers to shutdown this national security agency at this very grave time.”
Anchor John Berman then asked “sounds like you are saying that when push comes to shove it’s going to be funded one way or the other even if it doesn’t mean overturning executive actions that the president made on immigration. Am I correct in what I heard there?
McCaul responded, “we have a federal judge now that has declared the executive action unlawful and saying the plaintiffs would, most likely prevail on the constitutional issue. I think the constitutional issue will play out in the courts. The courts determine whether something is constitutional, and not the Congress, and so I can’t predict what the Senate will do.”
(h/t The Hill)
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