Republicans use Iran strikes to pressure Dems in DHS funding fight

Republicans on Capitol Hill are capitalizing on the strike against Iran to pressure their colleagues into funding the Department of Homeland Security — without any of the policy changes that Democrats have been demanding as a condition of reopening the shuttered agency.

They argue that Saturday’s military action increases the threats of retaliatory terror attacks on the U.S. mainland and, given that, fully restoring DHS operations should be prioritized over partisan squabbles.

“Let’s get DHS funded,” Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), who sits on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said Sunday on ABC News. “We need to make sure we’re defending the homeland by also funding what’s here at home.”

“Given the situation in the Middle East and the potential for Iran and its terrorist proxies to attempt some type of attack, it is imperative that @SenSchumer and @RepJeffries immediately drop all opposition to funding the Department of Homeland Security and pass the funding bill,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote in a Saturday post on X.

DHS funding lapsed earlier this month over a fight over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics following the killing of two American citizens in Minneapolis by federal agents. Republicans and the White House have been trading offers with Democrats on a compromise bill, but so far Democrats — who want a commitment to requiring enhanced training and a ban on masks for immigration officers in the field — haven’t been satisfied with the GOP’s proposals.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said Sunday that he is planning to ask House leaders this week to bring up the DHS appropriations bill for a vote on the floor, a move he tied to the developments in Iran.

“It is inexcusable that Congress has not funded CISA, TSA, Coast Guard, and Secret Service when we are seeing combat operations in the Middle East,” Bacon said in a statement. “If [House Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) votes no, then it is on him.”

With the pain of a DHS shutdown due to grow more acute as the funding lapse drags on, the Republicans' new messaging tactics are a sign the GOP is eager to seize on anything that might give them leverage in negotiations. But in the immediate aftermath of the Iran strikes, Democrats don’t appear swayed by Republicans’ latest pressure tactic.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in an interview Sunday that it’s Republicans, not Democrats, who need to change course on DHS negotiations, given wide public support for changes to the aggressive tactics deployed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol in cities across the country.

“We’ve sought a compromise from the outset, the Republicans have essentially stonewalled and rejected any common sense reforms to ICE or CBP,” Blumenthal said. “Republicans could open DHS with a simple ‘thumbs up’ to these common sense reforms.”

Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, the top Democratic lawmaker on the funding panel in the Senate that oversees DHS, also said on CBS News’ Face the Nation Sunday that Republicans are presenting a false choice.

"We can do two things at once: We can demand that ICE stop murdering American citizens, and we can demand that the administration not send our kids to die for a war that we don't need,” Murphy said. “I don't have any obligation to fund a Department of Homeland Security that is violating the law every day, just like I don't have any obligation to support this war that is illegal as well."

Still, Republicans see defending the homeland as an argument that could resonate with Americans. Core to their argument is that DHS not only oversees immigration enforcement, but also other national security and emergency response agencies necessary for protecting the U.S. from its enemies.

Counterterrorism operations at DHS will continue as essential functions of the department’s mission, but other agencies could be affected. For instance, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which operates under DHS, has had its already beleaguered operations further curtailed by the shutdown. As the nation's top cyber defense agency, it both protects federal networks against cyberattacks and helps state, local and private organizations do the same.

Iran has long been regarded as one of the most dangerous nations in cyberspace, and has used cyberattacks to target U.S. and Israeli critical organizations many times in recent years, such as defacing monitors at water treatment facilities in Pennsylvania in 2023. House Homeland Security Chair Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) said in an email just prior to the attack on Iran that Iranian hackers “pose a serious threat” to the U.S. and allied nations and stressed that CISA and its staff needed to remain fully operational “to ensure our nation is ready to deter and respond to cyber threats.”

FEMA would also play a major role in any response to a terror attack against the United States, especially in mobilizing federal resources towards communities.

Rep. Vince Fong (R-Calif.), a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, wrote in a social media post Saturday that “every agency tasked with protecting our nation must have the resources they need. The security of our homeland is not a game.”

Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee also issued a joint social media post saying Democrats need to approve funding in the face of “heightened threats.”

Spokespeople for Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and for Jeffries did not respond to requests for comment on whether the threat of retaliations from Iran could shift the Democratic stance on funding DHS.

The party has previously criticized Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for taking actions they see as weakening the agency’s ability to respond to attacks, such as dramatically shrinking CISA, cutting its office to counter weapons of mass destruction and restructuring its internal intelligence operations.

DHS did not respond to a request for comment.

Joe Gould and Jacob Wendler contributed to this report.