AZ Political Podcast: Congressman blames DHS shutdown on Democrats ‘moving goalposts’

Republican U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani of Arizona is my latest guest on the AZ Political Podcast.

He tells me that Democrats moved the goalposts on Department of Homeland Security funding and blames them for the ongoing shutdown and its ripple effects — including long airport security lines.

The Republican says they’re to blame because the original funding bill put forth by the House — and the House Appropriations Committee’s Homeland Security Subcommittee, of which Ciscomani is vice chair — already contained Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reforms Democrats had requested.

And then, he says, Democrats asked for more ICE reforms.

Juan Ciscomani also talks about border enforcement on AZ Political Podcast

We also talk about whether Rep. Ciscomani, a Mexican immigrant who is a big supporter of border enforcement, supports the proposal that’s being floated around the Senate. That approach would fund everything at DHS except ICE.

We also discuss whether President Donald Trump would sign such a bill — because that’s something we’ve heard conflicting reports about.

And since Ciscomani’s 6th Congressional District contains two of Arizona’s major military bases — Fort Huachuca and Davis-Monthan Air Force Base — I ask him how he feels about the conflict with Iran and whether he’d support U.S. ground troops joining the fight.

Finally, we talk about a topic where he sees Arizona Republicans and Democrats working together as “Team Arizona”: the fight to get our fair share of Colorado River water.

Boy, I’d like to talk more on the AZ Political Podcast about the topics that unite us. Unfortunately, I think it takes things that make us as desperate as water does in order to do that.

The AZ Political Podcast is available at KTAR.com, the KTAR News app and everywhere you get your podcasts.

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