[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 48 (Tuesday, March 17, 2026)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E225-E226]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               HIGHLIGHTING THE DEMOCRAT SHUTDOWN CHARADE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOE WILSON

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 17, 2026

  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, due to weather-related 
flight cancellations, the following is a one-minute speech I was unable 
to deliver in-person.
  I include in the Record the following editorial The New York Post 
correctly editorialized yesterday:

       The United States saw four terror attacks on its soil in 
     just the two weeks since the Iran war began, yet Democrats 
     voted yet again last week to #Defund Homeland Security.
       Are they trying to help the terrorists?
       They also seem to hate TSA workers and flight passengers: 
     Chaos has reigned at airports around the nation, with hours-
     long security lines; the shutdown has prompted 300 agents to 
     quit and others to take unscheduled leaves rather than work 
     without pay.

[[Page E226]]

       The defunding's latest horror: The Department of Homeland 
     Security's Office for Bombing Prevention just canceled a 
     training class on how to handle IEDs.
       Actually, it's unthinkable: Airport misery and flight 
     safety are bad enough, but defunding bomb prevention--at a 
     time like this?
       Dems are holding the nation's security and air travel 
     hostage in a purely symbolic protest to prove their hatred of 
     ICE to their base.
       The funding cutoff doesn't even hit ICE, which already got 
     ample cash in last year's Big Beautiful Bill Act.
       It's well past time for Democrats to end the games and 
     think about everyday Americans for a change.

  Appreciated former House Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security 
Committee Chairman Mike McCaul has correctly warned that Democrats are 
being irresponsible by shutting down the Department of Homeland 
Security during an increased threat from Iranian terrorists, and that 
they will have ``blood on their hands'' by not preventing attacks.
  Provocative insightful Sean Hannity stands with Trump exposing 
isolationists as either dumb or evil.
  Coordinating with determined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of 
Israel, destroying the capability of eleven nuclear bombs boasted by 
Iran to Envoy Steve Witkoff is existential for Western civilization. 
Iran building intercontinental ballistic missiles puts all of Europe 
and South and Central Asia at risk with drone attacks already our 
valued NATO member Turkiye, along with Azerbaijan.
  In conclusion, God Bless Our Troops as the Global War on Terrorism 
continues. Trump is reinstituting Peace Through Strength, revealing war 
criminal Putin lies, insulting and mocking Trump as Putin provides 
targeting directions to Iran to murder Americans.

                          ____________________