Republicans Reveal TSA Was Only a Prop

In the latest series of funding fights between Democrats and Republicans, there had been two versions of events. 

Republicans insist that while they control all branches of the government, Democrats are the ones to blame for a partial shutdown of the government. This shutdown impacted the Department of Homeland Security, the Coast Guard, the TSA, and FEMA. The sticking point for Democrats were that they had wanted to see some institutional changes regarding ICE, such as requiring body cams, removal of masks, and clear identification being part of those changes. Republicans took the my way or the highway approach President Donald Trump had stated on numerous occasions he would veto any bill that crossed his desk that did not meet Republican policy objectives.

The funding fight had gotten more strenuous as the TSA went unfunded, agents missed paychecks, and airport security lines started to increase during a busy spring break season. President Trump had even de used to send his unskilled ICE agents to stand around and give the appearance he was doing something.

Democrats had repeatedly offered clean bills to fund TSA but Republicans repeatedly voted against them, that was until March 27th. 

What caused this change?

As congress started to feel the heat from their constituents, it seems as if Republicans were feeling most of that pressure and it did not help things when they lost a couple special elections, with one notable race in particular - the district that contains the president’s resort home in Florida. This caused the president to make a proclamation that he would act without congressional action and pay TSA agents, despite constantly saying Democrats need to acquiesce.

Why does this matter?

Because Republicans quickly voted shortly afterwards to vote on a funding deal minus the funding for ICE, essentially handing Democrats a win but doing one more and proving Republicans were using the TSA as a political football. It also did not help that Trump blew up the GOP’s bargaining chip by saying he would fund the TSA, especially when he shot down a bipartisan deal earlier negotiated by Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

If Trump could find the TSA, why did he not do that from day one unless he and Republicans cynically thought voters would blame Democrats for the long lines at airports. Once they started to experience the political realities and Trump said he would pay the agents, Republicans no longer had a reason to hold out against Democrats’ demands. 

To the Democrats’ credit, they did not chicken out like they usually do and instead left that to Republicans and Trump, who has stayed true to his most damning moniker as TACO, which stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out.”

Now that this current funding fight has moved on to the next stage, who knows what each side will do. Democrats will probably continue to insist on reforms for ICE while Republicans will claim Trump acted decisively and won for the greater good.