{"id":2497808,"date":"2025-10-11T09:25:02","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T13:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/obamas-dhs-sec-backs-gop-on-shutdown-announces-his-break-from-the-party-line-over-shutdown\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T09:26:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T13:26:01","slug":"obamas-dhs-sec-backs-gop-on-shutdown-announces-his-break-from-the-party-line-over-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/obamas-dhs-sec-backs-gop-on-shutdown-announces-his-break-from-the-party-line-over-shutdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Obamas DHS Sec Backs GOP on Shutdown, Announces His &#8216;Break From The Party Line&#8217; Over Shutdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fobamas-dhs-sec-backs-gop-on-shutdown-announces-his-break-from-the-party-line-over-shutdown%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2497808&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh johnson, a Democrat, has publicly urged Congress to reopen the federal government amid an ongoing shutdown. Johnson expressed his willingness to break from the party line, criticizing Senate Democrats, led by Chuck Schumer, for blocking the Republican spending bill that could have ended the shutdown. He emphasized the importance of funding the government to allow public servants to continue their work, highlighting the personal impact on workers such as a Transportation Security Governance employee battling stage four cancer who depends on her paycheck for medical expenses. Johnson called on Congress to prioritize keeping the government operational rather than linking budget approval to other political issues. Simultaneously occurring, some Senate Democrats continue to block reopening efforts, demanding the reinstatement of funding for various foreign projects, which Republicans have already removed from the budget to facilitate a deal.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said he&rsquo;s ready to break from the party line and urged Congress to reopen the federal government.<\/p>\n<p>The government remains shut down after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and most Democrats <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2025\/10\/01\/chuck-schumer-government-shutdown-far-left\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">blocked<\/a> the Republican spending bill early Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on &ldquo;The Source With Kaitlan Collins,&rdquo; Johnson said he would break from the party line and listed several reasons why Congress must act to reopen the government.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to break from the party line here on this. I&rsquo;m a Democrat. I&rsquo;m with John Fetterman and Angus King. The problem I see here is that to pass the budget, it needs 60 votes in the Senate. And what is happening each year now, and what I fear is going to happen in the future, is the minority party wants to link that to some other very, very important issue,&rdquo; Johnson said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Affordable health care is critical, obviously, but I fear that this is going to happen every year, every September, October, November. The most basic function of Congress is to fund the government, turn the lights on, keep the government working so that the three million people who are public servants are able to do what they do to serve all the rest of us.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>  <script> console.log(\"A\/B Test Video Player\"); \/\/ Helper function to set a cookie function setVideoCookie(name, value, days) {     var expires=\"\";     if (days) {         var date=new Date();         date.setTime(date.getTime() + (days*24*60*60*1000));         expires=\"; expires=\" + date.toUTCString();     }     document.cookie=name + \"=\" + (value || \"\")  + expires + \"; path=\/\"; }  \/\/ Helper function to get a cookie function getVideoCookie(name) {     var nameEQ=name + \"=\";     var ca=document.cookie.split(';');     for(var i=0; i <ca.length; i++) {         var c=ca[i];         while (c.charAt(0)==' ') c=c.substring(1,c.length);         if (c.indexOf(nameEQ)==0) return c.substring(nameEQ.length,c.length);     }     return null; 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             \/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element             let targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);              if (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) {                 console.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\");                 return null;             }              return paragraphs[targetIndex - x];         }          \/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver         function observeElement(element) {             if (!element) return;              const observer=new IntersectionObserver(                 (entries)=> {                     entries.forEach(entry=> {                         if (entry.isIntersecting) {                             console.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim());                             loadScript(\"https:\/\/embed.sendtonews.com\/player3\/embedcode.js?fk=s28Az7AY\");                             observer.disconnect(); 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        observeElement(paragraphToObserve);     }); }  \/\/ Assign user to a group window.adUserGroup=assignSplitTestGroup();  \/\/ Example usage if (window.adUserGroup==='A') {     console.log('Running Aditude player for group A');     aditudePlayer(); } else if (window.adUserGroup==='B') {     console.log('Running Anyclip player for group B');     anyclipPlayer(); } else {     console.log('Running STN player for group C');     stnPlayer(); } <\/script> <\/p>\n<p>Johnson said he was motivated to keep the agency open after hearing from a Transportation Security Administration worker who was battling stage four cancer and feared missing her paycheck.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sympathetic to the workers who are caught up in the middle of this political fight and being used as a political football,&rdquo; Johnson said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Ten years ago, Republicans wanted to shut down DHS over immigration, and the motivation for me was a worker, a lot of these people do live paycheck to paycheck, a TSA worker from West Orange, N.J. came to me and said, &lsquo;Mr. Secretary, I have stage four cancer, I need my paycheck for my co-pays.&rsquo; And that was my motivation.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>When asked directly if Democrats should vote to reopen the government, Johnson didn&rsquo;t hesitate.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I believe that Congress should vote to reopen the government,&rdquo; Johnson said.<\/p>\n<p>Senate Democrats <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2025\/10\/06\/senate-democrats-keep-government-closed-sixth-day-into-shutdown\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">voted<\/a> again to keep the government shuttered, rejecting a bipartisan spending bill last week that would have <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >reopened federal operations<\/a> for the fifth time.<\/p>\n<p>While three Democratic caucus members sided with Republicans, the rest of the party held the line, denying the bill the 60 votes needed to advance.<\/p>\n<p>Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy said the Democrats are <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2025\/10\/03\/john-kennedy-democrats-demands-government-shutdown\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">prolonging<\/a> the shutdown by demanding the return of millions in what he described as wasteful foreign projects.<\/p>\n<p>He said lawmakers had already removed the spending from the budget, but the party&rsquo;s far-left flank threatened to block any deal unless the funds were restored.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy cited a list of rejected items Democrats want reinstated, including $4 million for LGBTQ initiatives in the Balkans and Uganda, $3.6 million for dance workshops for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dr-fauci-funded-hiv-tracking-project-for-teen-prostitutes-in-china\/\" title=\"Dr. Fauci Funded HIV Tracking Project for Teen Prostitutes in China\">male sex workers<\/a> in Haiti, and $6 million for Palestinian media subsidies.<\/p>\n<div class=\"disclaimer\">\n<p>All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/union-membership-plummets-to-record-low\/\" title=\"Union Membership Plummets to Record Low\">legitimate news publisher<\/a> that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter&rsquo;s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! 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The shutdown continues after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and most Democrats blocked the Republican spending proposal early Wednesday. In an interview on &#8220;The Source With Kaitlan Collins,&#8221; Johnson stated that he plans to break from party lines and outlined several reasons why Congress must act to end the shutdown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2497809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Michael-Featured-Image-181.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[44897,6203,39629,5315,65017],"class_list":["post-2497808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-dhs-secretary","tag-gop","tag-government-shutdown","tag-obama","tag-party-line-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Michael-Featured-Image-181.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2497808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2497808"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2497808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2497812,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2497808\/revisions\/2497812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2497809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2497808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2497808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2497808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}