Obama warns delaying DHS funding bill would endanger national security

USPA News - U.S. President Barack Obama is urging congressional Republicans to pass a bill to ensure the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has the necessary resources to protect the United States against emerging security threats. Speaking to DHS employees in Washington, D.C., on Monday, the president emphasized that if Republicans failed to pass a DHS funding bill soon, front-line personnel - including 50,000 TSA aviation security screeners - will not get paid, which would endanger critical national security priorities.

"Don`t jeopardize our national security over this disagreement," Obama said, speaking at the Nebraska Avenue Complex Gymnasium in D.C. "We have to put politics aside and pass a budget," he added. A White House official stressed that a failure to pass a DHS funding bill would mean some 147,000 federal agents will not be getting paid. "Republican and Democratic former Secretaries of Homeland Security agree that Congress shouldn’t put national security funding at risk,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official added: "If Republicans let DHS funding expire, it will put homeland security initiatives at risk in the event that new threats emerge. It will also delay essential state and local grants that help protect the homeland, improve local law enforcement, and keep our communities safe.” House Republicans previously attached language blocking Obama’s controversial immigration initiatives to a bill that would provide nearly $40 billion in funding to the Department of Homeland Security for the remainder of the 2015 budget year, the latest in a long string of policies proposed by the House of Representatives in opposition to Obama’s executive actions. Earlier this month, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, stated that his GOP colleagues were "playing with fire" by connecting immigration to homeland security, CNN reported.