It’s been more than 45 days since Democrats decided to shut down the Department of Homeland Security. TSA agents and many other DHS employees have had to work without pay for weeks, and travelers have had to endure long wait times and lines stretching into airport parking garages. The Democrats’ willingness to hold paychecks hostage from the men and women who defend our homeland is unconscionable, but sadly it’s not all that shocking given Democrats’ record-breaking, 43-day government shutdown last fall.

Thankfully, President Trump found a way to provide relief to the tens of thousands of TSA officers who had to work without pay because of the Democrats’ shutdown. While the president should have never had to step in to rescue these workers and U.S. air travel, I’m grateful that the men and women who keep our airports safe are finally receiving the pay they’re owed. In addition, the president recently announced that he will be paying all of the hardworking employees at the Department of Homeland Security – something that Democrats refused to do for more than a month.

For weeks, Senate Democrats said they wanted reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The White House took steps to demonstrate its willingness to implement reforms, and the administration offered to codify those reforms and even make additional ones as part of its negotiations with Democrats. But instead of taking yes for an answer, Senate Democrats kept moving the goalposts until they finally just walked away. It turned out that it wasn’t reforms that Democrats wanted; they didn’t want to fund border security and immigration enforcement at all – unless Republicans agreed to limit longstanding authorities that make it possible for law enforcement officers to do their jobs effectively and safely.

The good news is that Republicans in Congress anticipated that a scenario like this might happen when we worked to pass our Working Families Tax Cuts bill last summer. As part of our landmark legislation, we secured historic funding for border security and immigration enforcement. Thanks to the funding we delivered, immigration enforcement officers across our country have been able to continue their essential work without having their pay held hostage by Democrats.

On top of that, we’re working on another bill to fund border security and immigration enforcement for the rest of the Trump administration. This legislation will prevent any future attempts by the Democrats to defund law enforcement and ensure that President Trump can continue delivering on the mandate that the American people gave him.

While Democrats want to return to the open-border policies of the Biden administration, Republicans will not allow that to happen. We’re going to ensure that the Department of Homeland Security is reopened, all federal workers are paid, and border security and immigration enforcement are funded for the long term.