Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said she will not back House Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan for a short-term continuing resolution and urged the House to take up the Senate’s unanimously approved bill. She argued the Senate measure would immediately restore funding for TSA, the Coast Guard and FEMA, and preserve nonprofit security grants she called essential amid a rise in antisemitic attacks — citing the recent attack at Temple Israel as an example.
Wasserman Schultz blamed House Republicans for creating the shutdown and then “bear hugging” it instead of passing the Senate bill that would have paid TSA weeks ago. On immigration enforcement, she said the Senate bill creates an opening to set aside funding for ICE and CBP while Democrats press for reforms; she noted that ICE and CBP funding was already increased last year.
She described the Democratic aim as having ICE and CBP act like typical law-enforcement agencies that respect people’s rights, and pointed to what she called progress: Kristi Noem’s removal, ICE being pulled out of Minneapolis and public commitments from the new Homeland Security secretary to use judicial warrants. Those changes, she said, followed public outrage over aggressive enforcement tactics.
Wasserman Schultz gave local examples of enforcement she finds troubling, saying ICE has stopped lawn trucks and detained people based on appearance or accent rather than criminal behavior. She criticized broad deportation plans she attributes to former President Trump and some Republicans, and argued reforms are needed to ensure fairness while maintaining critical homeland-security functions.
Rejecting the idea that the opportunity for change has passed, she said Democrats must continue fighting to prevent ICE from “running roughshod over people’s rights.” Her stated priorities remain fully funding TSA agents, the Coast Guard and FEMA, and preserving nonprofit security grants.
On the ethics case involving Florida Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick — whose case the House Ethics Committee’s adjudicatory panel found guilty on dozens of charges related to pandemic relief funds used to boost a campaign — Wasserman Schultz said she will wait for the Ethics Committee’s full report and recommendations before weighing in on whether Cherfilus-McCormick should resign.
Wasserman Schultz urged the House to adopt the Senate’s bipartisan bill to avert a shutdown and to create a vehicle for negotiating the enforcement reforms Democrats seek, while holding Republicans accountable for creating the crisis.