Majority Leader | Press Release | Press Releases | THE NE...Skip to primary navigation Skip to content×Close THE NEWSROOMRemarks Press Releases The Leader Board Op-Eds Videos SENATE RESOURCESRepublican Senators Committees Congressional Record Congress.gov Senate Floor Webcast ABOUT LEADER THUNE×Close THE NEWSROOMRemarks Press Releases The Leader Board Op-Eds Videos SENATE RESOURCESRepublican Senators Committees Congressional Record Congress.gov Senate Floor Webcast ABOUT LEADER THUNExxsearchxMENUFacebookXInstagramFacebookXInstagramVisit Leader Thune's South Dakota Site Here THE NEWSROOMRemarks Press Releases The Leader Board Op-Eds Videos SENATE RESOURCESRepublican Senators Committees Congressional Record Congress.gov Senate Floor Webcast ABOUT LEADER THUNExxsearchxMENUHomeTHE NEWSROOMPress Releases02.10.26Thune: Funding DHS Is Critical to Americans’ Safety“[T]hese are important agencies, important agencies to the American people, all of which need to be funded, and these federal employees at TSA and other agencies shouldn’t be held hostage by the Democrats in potentially another government shutdown.” Click here to watch the video.WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke at a press conference with Senate Republican leadership:Thune’s remarks below (as delivered):“Good afternoon.“I’m sure you’ve already heard from the Democrats.“So, we might have a slightly different view of where things are, but I think everybody agrees that we need to fund the 2026 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill.“It’s the only one left; we’ve got 96 percent of the government funded.“But the DHS bill, as you know, represents not only … ICE, but also FEMA, and the Coast Guard, and TSA, cybersecurity – a whole bunch of things that are really important to the American people.“And so our view is we need to try and get this last bill across the finish line.“And I think there have been some really productive conversations around that between Republicans and Democrats, between the White House and Democrats here in the Senate.“One thing Republicans are not interested in, obviously, is making it harder, not easier, for dangerous illegal aliens in this country to be detained and deported.“We do believe in making it easier, not harder, for law enforcement officials to do their jobs.“So those are things that we are focused on in these conversations.“But I think it’s fair to say that there have been good-faith efforts.“The Democrats, you know, they didn’t finally get text available until just this weekend.“The White House is now responding to that, and I think it’s important that we allow those conversations to go forward and see if there might be a path toward getting an outcome that would fund the Department of Homeland Security until the end of the fiscal year, which is September 30.“So it’s a, I would say again, it’s a work in progress, but I would hope that the Democrats here in the Senate, if it takes more time, which I believe it will, would be amenable to allowing us to get an extension of the continuing resolution to allow more time for those negotiations to continue.“As you all will recall, we made it very clear at the outset that we thought the amount of time they allocated toward this wasn’t nearly going to be sufficient, and clearly it’s not.“But I do think that, based upon the progress that’s being made toward getting to a result and a conclusion, we ought to allow some additional time in order to make that happen.“So again, these are important agencies, important agencies to the American people, all of which need to be funded, and these federal employees at TSA and other agencies shouldn’t be held hostage by the Democrats in potentially another government shutdown.“So the best way to avoid that is to strike a deal, and I think that means we’ve got to keep people at the table.”PrintEmailTweetPreviousTHE NEWSROOMSENATE RESOURCESABOUT LEADER THUNEFacebookXInstagram
