Voters tell Congress 'do your job' and end the DHS showdown

Americans are furious, and rightly so.

Squabbling between Democrats and Republicans in Congress has led to a partial shutdown of our government and a whole lot of aggravation for millions of Americans traveling for spring break.

It is an outrage.

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Republicans refuse to cater to Democrat showboating; they are blocking attempts to fund only those parts of the DHS that Hakeem Jeffries and his colleagues will agree to, which includes the TSA.

I say — fix this.

As wait times in airports extend to multiple hours, with security lines snaking around terminals, Congress needs to do its job.

There’s a reason that Congress’ popularity is in the gutter.

Gallup’s last read on how Americans view Congress shows only 16% approving of the job our House and Senate members are doing.

16%!

That’s one of the worst ratings on record, surpassed only by the 14% approval Congress earned when it was shut down last November.

The lowest approval rating on record — a ghastly 9% — was posted in November 2013, during yet another federal budget impasse.

There’s a message there: get to work.

Surveys show NFL replacement referees, colonoscopies and toenail fungus among the many items that are more popular than Congress.

But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer might be less amused to hear that ICE — the agency Democrats love to hate — also has higher approval ratings than Congress.

Americans are split on whom to blame for the TSA nightmare.

Republicans blame Democrats, who have now shut down our government four times in the past 18 months.

Schumer seems convinced that opposing President Trump is his number one mission — the country be damned.

Polling over the past year has shown Democrats angry that their legislators are not doing more to block Trump’s agenda.

Schumer, along with his House counterpart Hakeem Jeffries, is responding to those polls by refusing to pay TSA, FEMA and some Coast Guard personnel.

It is a lousy way to treat hundreds of thousands of hard-working government employees.

Republicans have balked at Democrats’ offer to fund only parts of DHS, including the TSA, confident that Schumer et al will let the lapse in ICE and Border Patrol funding continue indefinitely.

Democrats have so demonized the agencies responsible for protecting our border that not paying the folks who track down child traffickers and people on the terror watch list seems a winning strategy.

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This coming Friday, TSA employees will have gone a month without a paycheck.

Is it any wonder that many are not showing up for work.

Is it any wonder that the security lines are only getting longer?

The White House is dispatching ICE agents to airports across the U.S.

in an effort to help the TSA, which is struggling with depleted ranks.

It will be the ultimate irony if ICE agents meaningfully help airports return to normal.

That will likely make Democrats even angrier.

Meanwhile, the American public is nearing the boiling point, furious at both parties for not resolving the DHS funding roadblock.

Some Republicans (of the RINO variety, like Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski) are ready to cave to Democrat demands and provide funding for the TSA and other non-ICE agencies.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz has a better idea, which is to fund the TSA, FEMA and the Coast Guard immediately and to create another budget reconciliation bill which could pass later in the year in order to secure money for ICE.

That’s a win-win, and that’s what the country wants right now.

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