DHS showdown: Merkley urges House to ‘pass clean bill’

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., released the following statement Friday after the U.S. House of Representatives failed to pass a bill that would extend funding for the Department of Homeland Security for several weeks.

“At a time like this, we should be working together on a bipartisan basis to fund and strengthen Homeland Security, but instead we are facing insecurity, instability, and uncertainty because some want to hold the funding for the Department of Homeland Security hostage to a partisan political debate.

“Is it really more important to hold a fight over deporting children who came to the United States and know no country other than the United States, who came here through no fault of their own? Is it more important to hold this fight over deporting those children than it is to protect America against terrorist threats? It’s time for the House of Representatives to take up and pass a clean bill.”

Without an extension of funding, DHS will shut down at midnight tonight, the senator said. The Senate has passed a bipartisan bill that would fund the department for the rest of the fiscal year at levels that have been agreed to by both parties.