Now that the Department of Homeland Security shutdown — a product of Democrats who would prefer to stomp their feet to protect criminal illegals, even though Immigration and Customs Enforcement already has all the funding it needs — might affect tourist travel, a Democratic senator from a state largely dependent on tourism is suddenly concerned that the Transportation Security Administration might be affected.
Gee, if only there were a way this could have been prevented.
According to The Hill, Nevada Sen. Jacky Rosen is annoyed that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem might be shutting down the unfunded parts of DHS — like, you know, the TSA PreCheck and Global Entry programs, which are potentially going to be suspended as the shutdown reaches the three-week mark.
Rosen, whose state’s economy is largely dependent on tourism in Las Vegas, called the threat to cancel the programs “counterproductive” and “unnecessary.”
“The Global Entry program facilitates lawful international travel, strengthens security, improves the traveler experience, and supports U.S. economic activity,” she said in a Thursday letter to Noem.
“As such, it should be immediately reopened and the related … PreCheck program should remain open as well.”
She added that the decision to shut the programs was “part of a troubling trend of you and Special Government Employee (SGE) Corey Lewandowski using your authority to pick and choose what government services to provide, withhold, or threaten to withhold to maximize the Administration’s political leverage and create uncertainty.”
The move comes after Global Entry and PreCheck were first suspended and then reopened last week; however, Noem has said that due to funding issues, she might suspend the program.
Global Entry allows foreign visitors to pass through customs with greater ease; PreCheck allows fliers that are pre-vetted to move through security lines more quickly.
In spite of the fact that these were obviously two of the programs that were likely to be first on the temporary chopping block if DHS has to trim the fat, Rosen said that Noem was shutting them down “despite no demonstrated need to do so.”
“Given these concerns, I urge DHS to immediately reopen Global Entry and ensure that PreCheck remains available to travelers,” the senator wrote.
“I also request a detailed explanation of the decision-making process that led to the suspension of TSA PreCheck and Global Entry, including the legal authority relied upon, the operational or budgetary assessments conducted, the officials who authorized the action, and the rationale for restoring PreCheck while leaving Global Entry closed.”
I’m not precisely sure what Rosen thought would happen when the Democrats basically threw a temper tantrum and shut down funding to DHS over ICE even though ICE had been fully funded.
Did she expect President Donald Trump’s administration to divert funding to their pet programs? Get real, woman. This was wholly inevitable and wholly preventable if only the Democrats had realized what the endgame here was.
Whether or not Rosen believes her own private foot-stomping over the programs which affect her state is another issue entirely — but the fact that her party yanked funding from the department which handles, inter alia, aviation security, and then expresses surprise that air travel becomes a whole heck of a lot more inconvenient because of it isn’t a terribly good augury when it comes to her level of self-awareness.
“You’re going to shut down trillions of dollars. You shut down our economy by shutting down our airspace. You’re going to get your revenge alright because you’re going to cause the economy to collapse,” Rosen told The Hill. “Good luck with that one.”
Um… You do realize you can talk to your own party about this, senator?
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