| Washington D.C.- Later today, Freshman Representative Christopher Carney (D-PA) will bring H.Res 134 – Recognizing and honoring the employees of the Department of Homeland Security for their efforts and contributions to protect and secure the Nation – to the floor.
Employees at Department of Homeland Security work tirelessly to protect Americans and our nation from terrorists and we heartily support the Resolution. It will be interesting to watch whether the new Democrat majority supports Rep. Carney’s resolution, especially considering their rhetoric over the past several years in which they have demeaned and degraded DHS and their employees.
THE RHETORIC:
Just two weeks ago, House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson referred to DHS employees as “fools”:
“We had assumed that the Department of Homeland Security was shipshape, but in reality they're just ships of fools.”
-- (NBC Nightly News interview - 1/29/07)
This isn’t anything new from Chairman Thompson:
“Where I come from in Mississippi, a person’s word means a great deal. How are Americans expected to trust that the Department of Homeland Security is up to the job of securing them when it has let them down again and again?” “…they make promises to the American people and then leave them unfulfilled.”
-- Democrat Report titled “33 Unfulfilled Promises from the Department of Homeland Security” - 12/27/05)
“The Department of Homeland Security is satisfied with mediocrity.”
-- (Democrat Report: 2006 Dept of Homeland Security Report Card - 3/2/06)
‘At one point this year, Thompson had 100 requests for info pending at DHS. “It just seems like the guy's never satisfied,” says an agency insider. Thompson shrugs. “I like that,” he tells us.’
-- (U.S. News and World Report -12/11/06)
The inflammatory rhetoric doesn’t end with Chairman Thompson. In fact, it has come from the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi:
Referred to DHS as an “exercise in futility”
-- (Congress Daily, 7/19/02)
Said that DHS “…undermines civil service and gives unlimited immunity to wrongdoers…” and referred to the Department as “…a monstrous bureaucracy of the 1950s that would have been obsolete even then…”
-- (Press Release, 7/26/02)
Referred to DHS employees as “unqualified cronies”
-- (Press Release, 9/27/05)
Chairman Henry Waxman, Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has also weighed in:
Said DHS employees are, “politically well-connected individuals with no experience or qualifications.”
-- (Press Release, 9/27/2005)
Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) questioned the motives of DHS employees and suggested that they issue terror alerts for political purposes, calling alerts “draconian”:
“I know I am not the only one who questions why in the 5 1/2 months since Election Day there has not been a single terror alert…” “…That constitutes a violation of trust with the American people…” “We ought not to employ the tactics of fear as a means of control in our pursuit to keep the homeland secure. Such draconian measures are not in keeping with the spirit of America.”
-- (Remarks in the House of Representatives, 5/18/2005)
THE ACTION?
No one is questioning these Democrat leaders’ and Representatives’ right to have and express opinions on the Department of Homeland Security and its employees. However, words have consequences, and we hope this is not another example of Democrat rhetoric being far different than Democrat action.
1. In light of his resolution, does Rep. Carney believe that the opinions and words of the Speaker of the House, Chairman of House Committee on Homeland Security, and his Democrat colleagues are inappropriate or wrong?
2. Will Democrat leaders and members who have spoken poorly of DHS employees – some as recently as two weeks ago – now contradict themselves and support this resolution?
Stay Tuned.
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