John Kelly joins former secretaries in call to end DHS shutdown

Source: Politico



By CAITLIN OPRYSKO 01/24/2019 07:31 AM EST

Five former secretaries of Homeland Security — including former White House chief of staff John Kelly — implored President Donald Trump and Congressional lawmakers on Wednesday to strike a deal to restore funding to the Department of Homeland Security, which has been shuttered since late last year because of a partial government shutdown.

In a letter to the president and Congress obtained by multiple news outlets, Secretaries Tom Ridge, Michael Chertoff, Janet Napolitano and Jeh Johnson joined with Kelly to call for the reopening of the department that they all once led. The secretaries wrote that the Department of Homeland Security is as central to national security as the Department of Defense, which lawmakers typically prioritize funding for during shutdowns.

"Congress does so because putting national security at risk is an option we simply can't afford," they wrote of funding for the Defense Department, which has not lapsed during the current shutdown. "DHS should be no different."

Kelly's signature on the letter comes just weeks after his departure from the Trump administration, where he first served as homeland security secretary before moving to the White House to serve as chief of staff. Kelly's White House tenure officially ended at the beginning of this year, more than a week into the shutdown that is now in its 34th day.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/24/john-kelly-governent-shutdown-1121850