Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on Sunday that with a federal judge’s ruling that President Obama’s executive actions on immigration are unconstitutional, Congress needs to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
House Republicans passed a bill that would fund the Department of Homeland Security and block the president’s immigration actions. If Congress does not pass a bill to fund DHS by the end of the month, the department will shut down.
In an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” Graham urged congressional Republicans to let the court case over Obama’s actions play out and fund DHS.
“I agree with the Texas judge who said that the executive orders were illegal. I hope Republicans will come together and back the court case, file a friend of the court brief with the court and fund DHS. I am willing and ready to pass a DHS funding bill and let this play out in court,” Graham said.
If the House and Senate cannot agree on a funding bill, a DHS shutdown would be blamed on Republicans, Graham said.
“I hope my House colleagues will understand that our best bet is to challenge this in court, that if we don’t fund the Department of Homeland Security, we’ll get blamed as a party,” he said. “And to anyone who is watching the world as it is, I’ve never seen more terrorist organizations with more safe havens, with more money, with more capability to strike the homeland than I do today. And that’s a direct result of a failed foreign policy by President Obama. And the worst thing to do is add gasoline to the fire by having the Republican Party defund the Department of Homeland Security.”
