Trump Rages at GOP’s Senate Bill To Fund TSA in Call With Fox: ‘Not Appropriate’ Without ICE Funding

(Alex Brandon/AP photo)

During a Friday phone call with Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich, President Donald Trump raged at the GOP-led Senate’s bill to fund all of DHS — except ICE and Border Patrol — saying the measure “wasn’t appropriate” without ICE funding.

While the bill was unanimously passed through the Senate via a voice vote early Friday morning, the GOP-led House of Representatives rejected the bill shortly after, further extending the partial government shutdown.

Later on Friday, after the failed DHS funding measures, Trump signed an executive order to pay TSA agents all current and back pay — though as Heinrich noted on-air, the mechanisms the government plans to use to complete the payments weren’t immediately clear.

Heinrich wrote a summary of her afternoon phone call with the president on X.

“Well, it wasn’t good. It wasn’t appropriate. Now what they should do is they should terminate the filibuster, Jacqui, and just vote, but you have three or four Republicans in there that are not doing the right thing,” said Trump of the Senate measure excluding ICE and Border Patrol pay.

“You can’t have a bill that’s not going to fund — in my opinion, you can’t have a bill that’s not going to fund ICE. You can’t have a bill that’s not going to fund any form of law enforcement, of which ICE is a big form, and so is Border Patrol,” he continued.

Heinrich then asked for more clarity on where the money to pay TSA agents will come from, to which Trump said, “It should happen quickly… [Office of Management and Budget Director] Russell Vought would give you the exact information.”

“This whole thing is about the Democrats wanting to have open borders, no ICE, no border patrol. These people are crazy,” concluded Trump. “They want open borders. They want no border patrol. They want no ICE. They want no nothing, except for criminals to pour into our country, and it’s not going to happen.”

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