Continuing to hype a possible "shutdown" of the Homeland Security Department if Congress did not approve funding by Friday, Tuesday's network morning shows all seized on White House talking points that any delay in funding would threaten national security and placed blame for the budget impasse squarely on Republicans.
On NBC's Today, co-host Matt Lauer warned: "In the meantime, there's a new fight in Washington over funding for Homeland Security. It's set to run out this week and all of this comes amid new terror threats aimed at malls in the United States."
In the report that followed, correspondent Peter Alexander declared:
Another possible shutdown, it sounds familiar, right? This is just the latest standoff between President Obama and Republicans. The President's critics insist the White House is overstating the threat to national security to try to put pressure on Congress, that's something the White House denies. Either way, the clock is ticking.
With federal law enforcement issuing a new bulletin calling for increased vigilance at malls nationwide, the Department of Homeland Security, that controls everything from TSA to FEMA to the Secret Service, is on the verge of a partial shutdown, set to run out of money at the end of the day Friday....
What would a shutdown look like? Homeland Security officials estimate 30,000 employees would be forced to stay home. Nearly 200,000 others considered essential to the nation's safety would keep working, but without getting paid. That includes agents patrolling the borders, officers at the airport checking your bags, and crews assigned to respond to natural disasters.
On ABC's Good Morning America, co-host George Stephanopoulos fretted: "A fight between Democrats and Republicans over immigration is holding up funding for the whole department and at midnight Friday the deadline is looming....this is the department charged with protecting our borders, preventing attacks. What happens if Congress cuts off funding?"
Correspondent Jon Karl explained:
That means that 30,000 federal workers will be furloughed, ordered to stay home. Another 200,000 at the department, the vast majority, will be required to go to work because they're called essential but they will have to work, George, without pay. This includes most of the Secret Service, the Border Patrol, those TSA screeners at airports.
He added: "The White House won't say whether or not this would actually endanger national security, but what they say is it certainly wouldn't make us any safer."
On CBS This Morning, correspondent Nancy Cordes led off her report: "Well, the idea of even a brief DHS shutdown was starting to make more and more Republicans uncomfortable given the large variety of threats the U.S. faces." Moments later, she stressed: "The urgency increased over the weekend when news broke about terrorists potentially targeting shopping malls. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the funding fight made it impossible for him to plan ahead."
On Monday, both NBC and CBS similarly used the mall terror threat to denounce the DHS funding fight.
All three Tuesday morning shows did briefly note the source of the budget stalemate: the debate over funding President Obama's executive action granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants without the approval of Congress.
On Today, Alexander framed the issue from the left:
So how'd we get here? Blame another Washington stalemate. Conservative Republicans are refusing to pass a Homeland Security spending bill unless it also rolls back President Obama's executive actions on immigration that would protect about four million undocumented immigrants from being deported. Democrats want the bill passed without delay. Even Republicans, fearing they'll get blamed for any shutdown, are divided.
On GMA, Karl was more straightforward: "Remember, Republicans are fighting here against the President's immigration action. They want that stopped and they don't want to fund the department unless that action, which they deem illegal, is stopped."
On This Morning, Cordes explained: "Republicans tried to pass a bill that would partially fund DHS while holding up money for new programs giving some undocumented immigrants the chance to stay in the U.S. legally. On Monday, Democrats blocked that bill for the fourth time, insisting that Congress fund the entire agency."
Monday's NBC Nightly News covered the DHS debate but managed to completely ignore that the disagreement was fueled by the President's unilateral action on immigration.
