Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., the chair of the House Freedom Caucus, told Newsmax on Tuesday he is frustrated that senators chose to leave town after passing a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security that was immediately rejected by the House.
"I was honestly surprised that they went home because they passed it at 2:00 in the morning," Harris said on "Ed Henry The Big Take."
"By that evening, we had passed our version.
"They should have stayed in town, we should have negotiated a compromise and then funded as much as we could out of the Department of Homeland Security," Harris added.
"I was very surprised by the fact that they left town, knowing that we would take action pretty rapidly," he said.
Harris said he hopes Congress finds a solution to the funding impasse.
The Department of Homeland Security has remained shut down since mid-February.
"The ball is in the Senate's court right now.
"We took their bill, we amended it to fund the entire department, we sent it back to the Senate," Harris said.
"We're waiting to hear their response," he said.
"They have another session on Thursday. They had one Monday, took no action.
"I hope on Thursday they take some action," Harris said.
Harris said members of the House and the Senate should conference and iron out a deal that works for both parties.
"And get the rest of DHS paid," Harris said.
President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order to pay Transportation Security Administration employees, who had gone without paychecks since the shutdown began in mid-February.
"The president just can't keep signing presidential memorandums and proclamations every time Congress fails to do its job," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
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Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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