Lott to Senate leaders: Try to find a bipartisan agreement to reopen DHS
Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott urged key lawmakers in the upper chamber to work together in good faith to find a bipartisan agreement to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
“Work it out. Get it done!” Lott, a Mississippi Republican, who served in the Senate from 1989-07, told Baltimore Post-Examiner in an exclusive interview on Wednesday. “This is not good. There has got to be an acceptable solution to both sides.
“It might hurt a little bit on both sides. But find a solution! Because the result-if you don’t do it: is pain for people who are trying to fly-and to the airplane pilots and to the airlines-and to the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) people-some of whom are still working without pay. They should sit down and work this out. Because it is not good for anybody.”
Lott’s comments were in response to a question from the Post-Examiner about what advice he would impart to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
Lott said an agreement might be easier to reach were he and former Senator Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) still leading the upper chamber.
The two lawmakers were well-known for working amicably together on key issues in the late-90s and early 2000s.
DHS has been shuttered for more than a month due to concerns related to the tactics of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in carrying out the Trump administration’s arguably hard-line immigration policies, which have reportedly included raids near schools, places of worship, and hospitals.
DHS has denied that such “sensitive” locations are enforcement priorities, though they reserve the right to take action in those areas under certain circumstances.
The Senate has taken several test votes to try to reopen the department. All have fallen short of the 60-vote filibuster-proof threshold that often is necessary for passage.
The House of Representatives voted to fully fund DHS on March 5.
A discharge petition is being floated by House Democrats that would fund TSA but omit funding for ICE and CPB. The proposal is generally considered a non-starter. It would require the support of not only all 214 House Democrats, but 4 Republicans as well.
The White House has signaled that they are open to consideration of Democrats’ demands for agents to wear body cameras and to limit enforcement operations in areas deemed sensitive.
However, the administration has not agreed to Democrats’ demands to prohibit agents from wearing face masks and to require judicial warrants as a prerequisite for conducting enforcement operations on private property.
The drama in Washington comes on the eve of spring break season where airports are expected to be even busier than usual with travelers.
Travelers are already feeling the pinch with long lines at TSA checkpoints, as many agents who screen luggage are not getting paid due to the DHS funding lapse.
Some of the agents have reportedly called out sick. And some smaller airports are even at risk of having to shut down due to personnel shortages.
To make matters worse, DHS is currently without a permanent department head.
Wednesday marked the beginning of the confirmation hearing of President Trump’s nominee to lead DHS, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.).
Mullin faced tough questioning from Senate Homeland Security Committee Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.), as well as from Democrats on the panel.
If confirmed, Mullin will take over the agency that had been led by then-Secretary Kristi Noem from January 2025 until she was fired on March 5.
Noem’s stewardship of DHS was marked by criticism of what many Democrats alleged was over-zealous immigration enforcement, as well as concerns from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle over what they viewed as lavish spending by the department.
Could a prolonged DHS shutdown affect the results of the upcoming midterm elections?
“I assume it could,” Lott said. “The key would be which party could make it clear that it is the other party’s fault. I would think that the Republicans could win on that. They should be able to. Because the Democrats are the ones that are holding up the legislation.”
Todd Eberly, a professor of political science at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, said it is too early to assess how a prolonged shutdown might affect the midterms.
“The midterms are 7.5 months away, which is an eternity in political terms. We’ll get our first sense of public backlash in a week and a half when most K-12 schools hold Spring Break and more folks head to airports for family travel. TSA workers have just entered the period of no paychecks, which I suspect will lead to many more folks not showing up for work. So I’m inclined to think that we need to wait and see what happens over Spring Break as the first real test of how much each side is willing to dig in and hold out.”
However, Eberly said past precedent suggests Republicans likely would shoulder most of the blame.
“Voters have tended to blame Republicans for the shut downs that have occurred because they control the House, the Senate and the White House. Most Americans don’t pay attention to the intricacies of parliamentary procedure and the need for 60 votes in the Senate. Rather they look at which party is in control in Congress and the White House. And that the GOP Republicans have not been successful thus far in shifting that mindset. And rather than focusing on the shut down and the long lines at airports, the White House and Republicans have been focused on the SAVE Act and are tying up the Senate with that debate.”
Former Rep. Alan Grayson, a Florida Democrat, who served in Congress from 2009-17, was more blunt about which party might be blamed.
“Trump will blame Biden. Everyone else will blame Trump. The solution is to have DHS agents refrain from shooting Americans in the face and in the back, like Noem shot her dog. We are not dogs, nor cattle, nor sheep. And they need to put a little love in their hearts.”
Bryan is the managing editor of Baltimore Post-Examiner.
He is an award-winning political journalist who has extensive experience covering Congress and Maryland state government. His work includes coverage of the first election of President Donald Trump, the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and attorneys general William Barr and Jeff Sessions, the Maryland General Assembly, Gov. Larry Hogan, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bryan has broken stories involving athletic and sexual assault scandals with the Baltimore Post-Examiner.
His original UMBC investigation gained international attention, was featured in People Magazine and he was interviewed by ABC’s “Good Morning America” and local radio stations. Bryan broke subsequent stories documenting UMBC’s omission of a sexual assault on their daily crime log and a federal investigation related to the university’s handling of an alleged sexual assault.