The Trump administration and Republican lawmakers seized on the chaos at Saturday night’s White House correspondents’ dinner shooting to ramp up pressure on Democrats in the standoff over Homeland Security funding.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Congress needs to stop “playing games” with the department’s budget.
“I hope this is a wake-up call to Congress,” Mr. Blanche said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I hope this is a wake-up call that the games that they’ve been playing, really with the lives of the men and women protecting them, should end.”
He said lawmakers who were in the ballroom — and watched the Secret Service response unfold in real time — should walk away with a clearer appreciation for the agents they have been using “as pawns in their political game.”
“I do hope that they get to work now and get a deal done, which is what President Trump has been asking for for months now,” he said.
DHS, which houses the Secret Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs and the Border Patrol, has been at the center of a bitter Capitol Hill fight.
Democrats have blocked funding while demanding changes to ICE after federal agents fatally shot two immigration-enforcement protesters in Minnesota.
The partial shutdown that followed forced TSA officers to work without pay, led to long lines at airports, and fueled warnings that the impasse was making the country more vulnerable.
Mr. Trump moved to plug the gap with an executive order to ensure DHS employees were paid.
But Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has warned that those emergency funds will run out in early May, raising the prospect that agents and other personnel could soon miss paydays. The Senate advanced a reconciliation bill last week to reopen the department over Democratic objections, sending the measure to the House.
Saturday night’s shooting added new urgency.
A gunman charged a security checkpoint outside the Washington Hilton ballroom before Secret Service agents took him down. One agent was shot but survived thanks to a bulletproof vest. President Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and Vice President J.D. Vance were evacuated.
Washington Republicans echoed Mr. Blanche’s warnings.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm for House Republicans, accused Democrats of repeatedly voting against DHS funding and endangering both elected officials and law enforcement.
“Democrats can’t inflame tensions, undermine law enforcement, and then pretend to stand for security. Their words are empty, and their record is indefensible,” NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella said.
Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters went further, tying the shooting to what he described as a broader culture of political violence.
“Last night’s attempted assassination of President Trump and members of his administration is the inevitable result of a radicalized left that has normalized political violence,” Mr. Gruters said. “Democrats can issue all the hollow calls for ’unity’ they want, but their actions tell the truth — they’ve repeatedly blocked funding for DHS and the very law enforcement agencies tasked with protecting Americans.”
“Until Democrats fully fund our security, their words are worthless,” he added.
Democrats pushed back. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, also appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” condemned the attack unequivocally but rejected Republican attempts to pin blame on his party.
He noted that the Senate has already passed a bipartisan DHS funding bill and urged the House to act.
“We have to make sure that every single Secret Service agent continues to get paid, every single TSA agent, the Coast Guard and FEMA, as well as the hardworking men and women of the Department of Homeland Security,” Mr. Jeffries said.
Rep. Ro Khanna, California Democrat, echoed the need to fund DHS but drew a firm line on ICE operations.
“The Democrats have been saying we want to fund DHS. We just don’t want to fund ICE agents with the ICE raids against American citizens and against immigrants in ways that broke the law,” Mr. Khanna said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We have done that many, many times.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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