A Republican senator who has almost daily has been demanding funding for the Transportation Security Administration on Wednesday blocked Democratic legislation that would fund the TSA — and other Homeland Security agencies such as FEMA and the Coast Guard — but not Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
“Daily reminder that Democrats blocked funding for HOMELAND SECURITY including the Coast Guard, Secret Service, and TSA,” U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-AL) wrote on Wednesday morning, as she has done almost daily for the past several weeks.
In her posts, Britt notes that “ICE and CBP are still funded and will continue to deport criminal illegal aliens.”
But on the Senate floor on Wednesday afternoon, Senator Britt said that the Democrats’ bill she blocked would “defund” the two agencies she regularly notes are “still funded.”
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“We have political games being played by our Democratic colleagues instead of putting the people of this nation first,” Britt declared. She called the bill, by U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), legislation that “would effectively defund our law enforcement officers that are charged with keeping Americans safe.”
“It would also defund our border patrol, our customs protection,” she said — the very agencies she states are still funded.
“Look, we’re not going back to the era of ‘defund police,’” Britt insisted.
Senator Murray, lamenting her bill being stalled, wrote: “Senate Republicans just blocked my bill to fund TSA and FEMA… AGAIN. This isn’t complicated: if Republicans won’t agree to rein in ICE & CBP, they should AT MINIMUM work with us to fund TSA. But they won’t.”
According to The Hill, Murray called the idea that her bill would “defund” CBP or Homeland Security investigations “absurd.”
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“All the bill I just offered does is fund the rest of DHS while talks continue on ICE and Border Patrol, and the simple fact is Republicans have already funded these agencies when they gave them more money, than most militaries by the way, in their Big Ugly Bill,” she said.
Attorney and immigration policy expert Andrea R. Flores wrote, “The defund argument just doesn’t make sense after Congress already gave ICE and Border Patrol $170 billion, which means they are at zero risk of stopping any of their core security functions any time soon.”
Pablo Manríquez, editor of Migrant Insider, mocked the Alabama GOP lawmaker: “Britt blocked TSA funding after complaining all month that TSA needs funding,” he wrote.
.@SenKatieBritt objects to Sen. Murray’s push for unanimous consent to fund DHS without ICE or CBP: “We’re not going back to the era of defund police…We’re going to secure our border. We’re going to enforce our laws. And we are going to stand with the people of this country.” pic.twitter.com/GoLMAnvTOO
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 11, 2026
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Image via Reuters
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