By MATT PIKE
A disagreement on the oversight of federal immigration officers and arguments over changes to how agencies are funded has led to an ongoing partial government shutdown, pausing funding of the Department of Homeland Security.
Eastern Kansas Congressman, Derek Schmidt says the biggest problem is that the pause in funding is not affecting those agencies such as ICE or Customs Borders and Protections, which were fully funded back in July.
Schmidt says what is affected is everything else that is supposed to be funded through DHS
“So it’s the Secret Service, it’s FEMA, it’s the Transportation Security Administration, TSA, the folks that keep us safe when we get on airplanes, it’s the Coast Guard, those are the agencies that aren’t getting funded right now, and they’re the agencies nobody’s mad at,” Schmidt tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “So, it’s this strange Washington dynamic that it’s really unfortunate, and I’m hoping we can get it ended very quickly before it disrupts people’s lives anymore.”
Schmidt says that's frustrating because agencies such as those have not done anything wrong and have just been doing their jobs each and every day
“And they’ve been caught up in this broader dispute about immigration enforcement and removal operations, and so I’m hopeful we can get past this quickly,” Schmidt explains. “The negotiations are ongoing, Senator (Chuck) Schumer and his folks, Hakeem Jeffries and his House Democrats, the White House and obviously the Republican leadership in congress they’re continuing to talk every day, offers are being sent back and forth and eventually agreement will be reached, but I hope it’s sooner rather than later, this isn’t doing anybody any good and so it really needs to end.”
Schmidt says the situation is incredibly frustrating and believes it's no way government should be run, adding most of the ongoing problems stemmed from headlines out of Minnesota
“We had a bipartisan agreement with Republicans and Democrats, House and Senate, and the White House on funding the Department of Homeland Security, we passed it in the house, they were prepared to pass it in the Senate, then the situation in Minnesota happened and then Senator Schumer pulled the plug on it and so here we are,” Schmidt says. “I just don’t think holding these other agencies hostage does anybody any good, I don’t think it’s the right thing to do, and I’d like to get it ended as quickly as possible, I hope that’s going to happen.”
The shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by DHS immigration agents during protests in Minneapolis last month prompted Senate Democrats to demand reforms in exchange for their support of the package.
Schmidt says talks appear to be creeping towards meeting somewhere in the middle on an agreement to get funding back to those departments, however other reports say discussions remain pretty far apart still.
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