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FIRST ON FOX: A union representing roughly 18,000 Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents is putting pressure on Senate Democrats to avert a partial government shutdown before midnight Wednesday.
Congress now has roughly less than 12 hours to keep federal agencies funded or risk potentially furloughing thousands of government workers and temporarily pausing key government services, with the Senate due to vote on a short-term bill extending current funding levels through Nov. 21 sometime late afternoon on Tuesday.
Democrats have so far stood firm in their demands for significant concessions on healthcare to be included in any funding deal, while Republicans continue to pressure left-wing lawmakers to stop the coming shutdown.
“On behalf of the men and women patrolling and securing our borders, we strongly support the bipartisan House-passed Continuing Resolution (CR) and urge the Senate to immediately pass and send it to President Trump for his signature,” National Border Patrol Council President Paul Perez told Fox News Digital.
SHUTDOWN EXPLAINED: WHO WORKS, WHO DOESN’T AND HOW MUCH IT COSTS
A union representing roughly 18,000 border patrol agents is pressuring Senate Democrats, led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, to vote to avert a government shutdown on Tuesday. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP; REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez))
Perez warned that a lapse in federal funding “threatens our ability to do our jobs and our capacity to maintain the most secure border in our nation’s history.”
“A government shutdown means we go without mission-critical funding for patrol vehicles, roads, radios, infrastructure and agent pay,” Perez said.
“What our agents do every day — ensure the safety of the American people and the sovereignty of our great country — is not a game, it’s life and death. We hope our Democrat-elected leaders in Congress will stop playing political games and fund our government.”
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., backed up the endorsement, telling Fox News Digital, “There is a sad irony in the fact that Democrats are threatening to hold pay for Border Patrol agents hostage unless we reinstate taxpayer-funded healthcare for people who crossed the border illegally. America’s Border Patrol agents are heroes, not political pawns for Democrats’ political game.”
He was referring to House Democrats’ alternate proposal for a short-term funding bill calling for a repeal of the Medicaid cuts passed in the…
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