Having fumbled another funding fight, Democrat leaders set their sights on spin with a new pitch on the Department of Homeland Security featuring an unsurprising catch.
Ahead of the anticipated debate on the Senate floor, where leftists are expected to obfuscate over an attempt at passing federal voter ID legislation, Democrats are attempting to shift the narrative on their weeks-long refusal to fund DHS.
Behaving as though they had worked their way to a compromise, elected officials followed marching orders to claim it was Republicans who were at fault while taking steps to fund all of the department, save U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“What we have offered is let’s pay TSA, let’s pay FEMA, let’s pay the … Coast Guard, let’s pay [Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency]. I’d even say let’s pay Customs and Border Patrol,” Virginia Sen. Mark Warner (D) said during an appearance on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” Sunday. “If we can’t agree on ICE reforms, let’s pay everybody else.”
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) says Democrats and Republicans should break the deadlock and end the partial government shutdown over Homeland Security funding.
“If we can’t agree on ICE reforms, let’s pay everybody else with the budget that Republicans laid out. Why won’t they just… pic.twitter.com/7Shti6kEQT
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) March 15, 2026
Similarly, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) demonized those across the aisle, stating that since the partial shutdown has lasted over a month, “I remind my Republican colleagues, we’re going to be back here again and again, winning this debate and eventually winning the American people.”
Likewise, having voted against the funding repeatedly, Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D) took her shot at shifting the debate during a press conference, “We need, in my view, to cut away all the conversation on ICE, which is its own conversation.”
Mich. Dem tells press DHS needs to be funded ONE DAY after she voted against it https://t.co/J2k0ofYQ5R via @BIZPACReview
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) March 13, 2026
Referring to it as the “Republican Shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) transmitted a letter to his caucus contending, “The Department of Homeland Security has been shut down for more than 30 days because Donald Trump and Republican extremists refuse to get ICE under control.”
“Meanwhile, hardworking employees of the TSA, CISA, Coast Guard, and FEMA have been forced to work without pay. Republicans continue to spend taxpayer dollars to fund ICE brutality against American citizens and law-abiding immigrant families,” he went on. “At the same time, Donald Trump and his sycophants in Congress are spending billions to drop bombs in the Middle East, instead of restoring their cuts to Medicaid and nutritional assistance for millions of children, veterans, seniors, and everyday Americans.”
The change in strategy from the Democrats not only followed the record-breaking shutdown of the fall that hinged on benefits for illegal aliens, but it also followed the clear and present frustrations of American travelers who found their Spring Break travels stymied by obscene wait times at airport security.
Dems’ DHS shutdown causes massive Spring Break travel snafu at airports https://t.co/YT3YxcFC8e
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) March 9, 2026
Addressing the shift in blame over the shutdown, Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall (R) told Fox News Digital, “Well, that’s what they do, right? And they’re good at it. They’re really good at it.”
“And the big difference is they have 90% of the legacy media backing them up,” he added. “So it’s hard, but again, four times this afternoon, the Democrats voted against funding DHS.”
Having stood against an attempt to advance a selective funding measure in the Senate last week, Alabama Sen. Katie Britt (R) told Fox News Digital, “Members need to get in a room, have tough conversations, and figure out a pathway for the American people. Their safety and security should matter more than politics in November, and unfortunately, Democrats continue to try to take hostages.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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