Congressman Don Bacon (NE-02) released the following statement after 13 House Democrats and all Republicans voted for the Motion to Recommit H.J. Res 31., which would have paid Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees, including the U.S. Coast Guard, through January 24^th, and require further negotiation to secure the border and reopen DHS:

“Our Coast Guard plays a crucial role in homeland security, law enforcement, and drug interception missions.  While they remain ready in their mission to protect America, they are now doing so without receiving a paycheck.

“Today, Republicans offered a commonsense fix to make sure all Department of Homeland Security employees, including the Coast Guard, receive a paycheck while we continue to negotiate to secure our borders and reopen the government. We offered this same proposal last week and six Democrats joined us, yesterday 10 Democrats joined us, and today 13 Democrats joined us. I thank them as they understand we must pay our employees while we negotiate other issues. Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer are the ones keeping hostage our Coast Guard and other DHS employees. The blame lies squarely with them.

“The ultimate solution is for both sides to come to negotiation table and make a win-win compromise—so far Pelosi and Schumer have refused to even try.”

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