Today, Representative Pete Aguilar delivered remarks on the House floor, urging the House majority to govern more responsibly, and focus their attention on middle-class families rather than engage in party politics. This comes on the heels of the House Republicans’ recent threat to shut down the Department of Homeland Security in an attempt to side-step President Obama’s executive action orders on immigration.

“Last week we were pushed to the brink of shutting down the Department of Homeland Security, the agency tasked with safeguarding our homeland from threats here and abroad, all because Congress couldn’t do its job. Only weeks after the horrific attacks in Paris, and with news of ISIS every day, the House majority risked the national security our country to play party politics. Threatening a shutdown of the DHS was reckless, unnecessary, and completely avoidable. The House majority’s games have forced Congress away from its most critical priority: working for middle-class families to create jobs, improve transportation and infrastructure, invest in education, help our veterans, and protect programs for our seniors. It’s time for us to stop playing games and get back to doing what the people of our districts elected us to do.”

Representative Aguilar has been a leader on funding for the Department of Homeland Security, speaking on the House floor three times and co-authoring a letter with Rep. Ruben Gallego (AZ-07) to Speaker Boehner last month. His remarks can be viewed here and the letter can be read here. Yesterday, the House passed a bipartisan bill to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security through September.