NBC News’s Kristen Welker pressed Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) on which party is to blame for the partial government shutdown that’s left some government workers without paychecks for more than 40 days.

Despite the Senate passing a funding bill last week, the House did not vote on it before recessing for Easter break.

On Sunday’s Meet The Press, Welker said, “The Senate did pass a bill. Now it appears as though House Speaker Mike Johnson is on board with trying to get that passed. But Congress is not back until April 14th, Congressman. Is that acceptable to wait that long to fully fund the government? Or should House Speaker Mike Johnson call everyone back this week and get the government reopened?”

Instead of answering the question, Lawler said, “Kristen, what’s not acceptable is that for this fiscal year, Democrats have shut down the Department of Homeland Security for over 90 days, not paying FEMA, not paying the Coast Guard, not paying the Secret Service, and not paying critical operations within the Department of Homeland Security. The fact is, Democrats made a very calculated decision to shut down the department because they do not want to enforce our immigration laws.”

Lawler went on to tell the tragic story of 18-year-old college student Sheridan Gorman who was allegedly killed by an undocumented migrant in Chicago last month, and to accuse Democrats of allowing criminals like the suspect into the country.

“Let me just get back to the question though,” Welker said. “Republicans are in charge of all three branches of government. House Speaker Mike Johnson has the capacity to call everyone back. Does he have a responsibility to do so, to bring everyone back to get the government reopened? Does this not fall to Republicans to do this?”

LAWLER: No, Kristen, we have passed Homeland Security funding four times in the last few weeks. And every Democrat —

KRISTEN WELKER: But the Senate passed a bill unanimously —

LAWLER: — has voted against it.

WELKER: Congressman, but the Senate passed —

LAWLER: Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer —

WELKER: — the bill unanimously.

LAWLER: Hakeem Jeffries —

WELKER: But the Senate passed the bill unanimously.

LAWLER: Kristen, they’re not funding the full Department of Homeland Security. They’re not funding ICE. They’re not funding Customs and Border Patrol. They say that, “Oh, we passed funding during reconciliation.” And we did for much of the operations. But many people within ICE and Customs and Border Patrol, civilians, are not being paid.

Watch the clip above via NBC News’s Meet The Press.

The post NBC’s Welker Pushes Back On House Republican Blaming Dems for DHS Shutdown: ‘Republicans Are In Charge Of All Three Branches’ first appeared on Mediaite.

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