Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is playing hardball in the latest funding battle, but his stunt just cost his fellow politicians many of the cushy benefits they receive from DHS.
This is not his first gaffe, either, as Schumer has been taking heat for months, dating back to the first continuing resolution (CR) that he allowed to be passed.
This is surely not going to bode well for Schumer when it comes time to re-elect a new Senate leader.
When the first CR was passing, the overall sentiment from Democrats was that they felt Schumer had let them down.
Even those who did not come out and say something negative about Schumer were not exactly complimentary.
For instance, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) stated, “The American people asked us over and over to fight for health care and to lower our costs overall.”
She continued, “Obviously, that broke apart at the end. Our job is to deliver for the American people. We need to do that more effectively.”
The first shutdown was over healthcare, but this time Democrats went after ICE and its tactics to enforce our immigration laws.
This time, Schumer appeared to have the support of the party, but the stance being taken by many Democrats is that they want ICE to no longer exist, but leadership has not been willing to go that far in this fight.
To that point, Schumer stated, “From day one, I’ve said unless there were really strong, meaningful reforms to rein in ICE and stop the violence, there will not be Democratic votes to fund ICE and extend the awful status quo that now exists.”
He continued, “For weeks, we’ve been pushing commonsense reforms, the very types of things that local police and sheriffs throughout America routinely follow. Today’s strong vote was a shot across the bow to Republicans. Democrats will not support a blank check for chaos.”
Our politicians love their perks, and they just lost one that most of them rely on for quicker travel… airport escorts.
Over the weekend, DHS announced, "Shutdowns have real-world consequences, not just for the men and women of DHS and their families who go without a paycheck, but it endangers our national security. The American people depend on this department every day, and we are making tough but necessary workforce and resource decisions to mitigate the damage inflicted by these politicians."
The agency later added, "At this time, TSA PreCheck remains operational with no change for the traveling public. As staffing constraints arise, TSA will evaluate on a case-by-case basis and adjust operations accordingly."
This is how you get politicians to come to the table. Usually, their actions have no direct consequences for them, but this time, it does. They shut down funding, and now they lose their VIP benefits. Watch how quickly this issue gets settled now.
