Congress Juggling Funding for DHS, Epic Fury

Congress could be facing a two-front challenge, as it contemplates whether to provide additional funding for the military operation in Iran as well as for the Department of Homeland Security.

Since mid-February, the agency has been shut down due to Democrats’ rejecting funding bills over their demands for additional restraints on immigration and border law enforcement.

Now, members of Congress are debating the need to pass a supplemental funding bill for Operation Epic Fury, as well.

DHS

President Donald Trump’s decision to replace DHS Secretary Kristi Noem with Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., has not prompted Democrats to support funding the agency.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has argued Democrats ought to reconsider their refusal to fund the agency now that Trump has selected new leadership.

“This, to me, is a huge development, I would think, in the funding conversation and hopefully they’ll get more earnest about coming to the table and trying to get a deal,” said Thune after news broke.

But Democrats have not indicated this appointment will resolve their issues with DHS.

“The problems at ICE transcend any one individual … It goes beyond any one person,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said after the announcement. “You need to straighten out the whole agency. The rot there is deep.”

Iran

The military is now over a week into an aggressive campaign in Iran, and some in Congress are talking about whether the Pentagon needs supplemental funding.

“I think there will be a supplemental. We’ll have to approve that,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters upon leaving a briefing on Operation Epic Fury this week.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, however, says the military is not close to running out of materiel.

We’ve got no shortage of munitions. Our stockpiles of defensive and offensive weapons allow us to sustain this campaign as long as we need to,” Hegseth said at a Thursday press conference.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said Tuesday he would like to receive more information on the operation in the event the White House requests more funding.

“If a supplemental is requested, I need to know that it’s paid for, and that this is clearly part of a defined mission with an endgame,” Roy said. “They haven’t presented us with one yet, so I have no way to know.”

Although some Democrats, such as Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., have ruled out voting for a funding package, others have kept the door open to the idea.

“Before you can feel satisfied about a supplemental — and I haven’t seen it — you have to know what the real goals are and what the endgame is,” Schumer said Tuesday.

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