Dem: GOP funding plan ‘dumb’ and ‘dangerous’

The House Republican plan to fund the government is both “dumb” and “dangerous,” Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) said Wednesday. 

Sanchez blasted Republicans for planning to provide only a few months of funding for the Department of Homeland Security in response to President Obama’s executive action on immigration.

“This will really handcuff our people over at Homeland Security. So for political purposes, the Republicans are doing really dumb things,” Sanchez said on MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown with José Díaz-Balart.”

“The problem is that they’re really putting our homeland security at stake here in this country. It’s a very dangerous game, what these Republicans are doing, these House Republicans in particular,” she added.

{mosads}Sanchez, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee and Congressional Hispanic Caucus, noted that short-term funding would be a continuing resolution (CR) that funds the agency at last year’s levels.

Implementing a measure that doesn’t have new spending levels could harm efforts to protect U.S. national security, she suggested.

“What is wrong with that? They’re not allowed to really change monies or they can’t move monies around. A lot of things have changed in the past year for Homeland Security,” she said. “It’s probably one of the most dynamic departments and one where managers really need to have some flexibility to move forward and go after terrorists, for example.”

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) offered the plan to his GOP conference on Tuesday, which many were receptive to. A vote on the funding package could come next week.

Still, other conservatives within the conference are pushing leadership to defund President Obama’s executive order through the spending bill.

The House Appropriations Committee has said it would be impossible to take such action without passing an authorization that shifts the funding authority to Congress. The agency responsible for implementing part of the executive order is self-funded through fees and not congressional appropriations.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) signaled Tuesday that he could support the funding package if it passes in the House.

The key will be whether enough Republicans will back Boehner’s plan and if some Democrats do, too.  

–This report was updated at 1:49 p.m.