Arjun Singh
- House Republicans are divided on a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security for the 2024 fiscal year.
- Ahead of a deadline to fund the department before it shuts down on Friday, several Republican members — including the House Freedom Caucus — are opposed to granting the department more money without significant policy concessions, even as others believe that avoiding a shutdown is the top priority.
- “I can’t imagine giving all this money and giving all these authorities to a man we just voted to impeach. It sends a mixed message,” Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Members of the House Republican Conference are divided over a proposal to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the 2024 fiscal year, a fissure which could lead to a partial government shutdown on Friday.
Border security is a top priority for House Republicans, with many in the caucus insisting upon conservative reforms to the area as a condition for approving aid to Ukraine after having voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for the department’s actions on the matter. House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday presented the conference’s Homeland Security appropriations proposals to a closed-door meeting of members, which received varying reactions from rank-and-file members.
“You should have been in the [Republican Study Committee (RSC)] meeting for the last 45 minutes to listen to Tom Homan and Mark Morgan talk about the atrocities at the southern border, and why in the world when we continue funding at those levels, and allow those things to happen to American citizens, and say that it’s okay,” Republican Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, the chairman of the RSC, a group of 173 House Republicans who advocate conservative causes, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “I’ve been very adamant about this: we’re doing nothing to secure our southern border, I’ll be against it,” Hern added, referring to the bill.
