DHS shutdown putting Americans at risk as World Cup security prep ‘significantly behind’: Sen Fetterman
Amid a funding standoff that went into overtime on Friday, Sen. John Fetterman is stressing the need for lawmakers to end travel delays and support the country’s weakened airport security...
By Fox News · Fox News
Amid a funding standoff that went into overtime on Friday, Sen. John Fetterman is stressing the need for lawmakers to end travel delays and support the country’s weakened airport security as he warns that security preparations are "significantly behind" for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup. "I could never justify this from the start, but here we are day 39, 40? It's like, how long are you gonna continue that?" Fetterman told Fox News Digital earlier this week. Fetterman raised concerns that the shutdown — the second for TSA workers have endured in just three months — has wreaked havoc on the country’s transportation security workforce that won't be easily undone ahead of high-profile U.S.-based events. "Preparations are significantly behind and now we're 77 days out and this is still shut down. And you have millions of people from abroad coming and millions of Americans joining these two," Fetterman said, referring to the World Cup. SCHUMER GAMBIT FAILS AS DHS SHUTDOWN HITS 36 DAYS AND AIRPORT LINES GROW Fetterman’s comments come as the Senate advanced most of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) funding in the early hours of Friday morning. Their bill looked to supply the many agencies that operate under DHS such as the Secret Service, the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), TSA and more — but at the exclusion of funding for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Funding DHS first ran dry on February 14, when Democrats made their support for the agency conditional on a set of reforms to rein in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. The Senate's bill didn't include any of the Democrats' reform, but also didn't include funding for ICE, either. That proposal ran into fierce resistance in the House of Representatives, where even U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson blasted the attempted resolution. "This gambit that was done last night is a joke. I'm quite convinced — it can't be that every Senate Republican read the language…