Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, chair of the House Homeland Security Committee
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul said Monday on CNN that Congress "should not be playing politics" with national security issues like funding the Department of Homeland Security given the "high-threat environment" in the nation. Rebecca Shabad
has the details:
"I'm very concerned that a Paris-style attack could occur in the United States, anytime, anywhere," he said. "And it would be irresponsible for lawmakers and policy makers to shut down this National Security Agency at this very grave time."
A video surfaced
over the weekend purportedly from the terrorist group Al Shabaab calling for attacks on the Mall of America in Minnesota. But Homeland Security Sec. Jeh Johnson
said Sunday that the department did not know of any credible threats being planned against U.S. malls.
Rep. McCaul placed the onus on the Senate to send the House a funding bill for consideration. If that happens, it's not likely to look anything like the anti-immigrant bill the House passed several weeks ago.
“It’s up to the Senate to determine what they send back to the House and we'll probably see something come back from the Senate this week and then we have to make some tough choices,” he said.
McCaul also signaled that Boehner should take the opportunity that's staring him in the face to let the courts address the legality of Obama's actions.
“We have a federal judge now that has declared the executive action unlawful and saying that we would most likely prevail on the constitutional issue. I think the constitutional issue will play out in the courts. The courts determine whether something is constitutional, and not Congress,” McCaul replied.