This week, President Donald Trump faced resistance within the GOP as well as the Democrat Party to get this funding bill across the finish line.
Trump issued an order to the GOP to drop the SAVE Act from the bill and address it later, and that diffused the resistance from within.
But he still had to deal with Democrats, and that turned out to be easier than moving the line within the GOP.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has been threatening to block the legislation because he wants to see big changes at DHS, if not the complete dismantling of the agency.
On some of the changes he wants to see, Jeffries stated, “Police officers don't wear masks. Sheriffs don't wear masks. State troopers don't wear masks. There's no justification for the manner in which ICE is conducting itself in terms of masks.”
He is very much wrong on that front, as special operators and undercover agents have worn masks during high-risk operations since I can remember. It is about making sure there is no retribution against them for simply doing their jobs.
Jeffries continued, taking shots at DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and I don’t see Democrats backing down until she either resigns or Trump asks her to leave.
Much to the surprise of many, the legislation wound up passing the House on the first run, 217-214, with 21 Democrats going against Jeffries to support the legislation.
That is a big number, but you see the bill only passed by three votes, which means nearly two-dozen Republicans crossed the aisle to try to block the legislation.
Speaker Mike Johnson was not exactly happy with how all this went down, especially in how the Senate broke out the legislation, but he still managed to get it passed.
He stated, "This is not my preferred route. I wanted to keep all six bills together. But listen, the president agreed with Schumer that they would separate Homeland, and we'll do that, and we'll handle it.… The Republicans are going to do the responsible thing."
Ever since that legislation passed, Jeffries has been trying to keep it positive in the media, but everyone knows he feels crossed by Democrats who supported the legislation.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) put it in not-so-subtle terms, stating, "He's butt hurt that President Trump didn't call him, too. But I think that's on Schumer."
What is a bit shocking to me is that since Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) brokered the stopgap funding, why did he not get Jeffries on board with this from the outset?
Democrats are proving to be more dysfunctional than the GOP right now, and that is saying something. If they were even somewhat organized, they could really be a problem for Trump, but it is good for conservatives that they don’t seem to be able to get their act together.
