Daines on Fox Business: “We Should Not Allow Democrats to Use a Shutdown to Put Pain on the American People”

• March 18, 2026

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Steve Daines today spoke with Larry Kudlow on Fox Business to discuss Senator Markwayne Mullin's hearing to be DHS Secretary and the effects of the DHS shutdown across the nation.

Watch the full interview HERE.

Daines on the DHS shutdown:

It's nuts, Larry. I call this "reindeer games" up here on Capitol Hill. This is now day 33. The Democrats decided to shut down DHS at a time when our nation needs those kind of resources on the front lines. Look what's going on in TSA. I understand right now the Houston airport, three to four hour delays because the TSA agents aren't getting paid. God bless those TSA agents around our country who are not getting paid but still showing up for work. We should not allow the Democrats to use a shutdown to put the pain on the American people because they're making political points after what happened with ICE up in Minneapolis. Let's remember something, Tom Homan and his leadership have already made a number of changes in response to what happened in Minneapolis. They're putting new leadership in place. They're talking about body cameras. They're being a little more judicious in terms of where they lean in, where they lean back. They've done all the right things. But one other thing, Larry, let's remember there's 22,000 ICE agents who show up to work every day. They've taken 150,000 dangerous illegals off of our streets already. The death threats against ICE agents are up 8,000 percent from where they were a year ago. They've got one of the toughest jobs in America to keep us safe. It's terrible that Chuck Schumer and the Democrats are using them as a political pawn for their political objectives. I think just me personally, no matter what Mr. Schumer and the other Dems say, they basically want to defund ICE, even to end ICE. That's what I think, and they want to reopen the borders. That's what I think their underlying mission is.

Daines on continued Democratic nonsense:

They don't want to solve the problem. They want to keep inflicting pain. They want to keep their base riled up. This radical left base. And you're exactly right, Larry. This is a group of leaders in our country that if given power again, whether in the presidency or the United States Senate, the borders will be wide open again and they would defund ICE. It's insanity. As a father and grandfather now of seven, I want my children and grandchildren safe. Thank God for President Trump and his leadership that's made our nation safer. That's what I think their ideological objective is.

Daines on Senator Mullin's confirmation hearing:

As we say out in Montana, Larry, things got a little western up here on the Hill today. But let me say this. Markwayne Mullin, the great senator from Oklahoma, is a close friend of mine. In fact, we got elected to the U.S. House together back in 2012. I served one term in the House and came to the Senate in 2014 and Markwayne came several years later. I've known him a long time. He is a great patriot. This guy is a fighter and he's the kind of guy you want to have leading DHS for this country because, as you know, the world is increasingly dangerous. After Joe Biden let in over 10 million illegals into our country, we've got our work cut out for us. Think about the Iranian sleeper cells in our country at the moment. You want to have a guy like Markwayne Mullin at the top of that organization. He is a man of high integrity, he's a compassionate father…

… He's going to have even bipartisan support. Senator Fetterman of Pennsylvania has indicated he's going to support the nomination at the committee level, and that means we'll see his support most likely on the floor level, but Markwayne Mullin will be the next Secretary of Homeland Security.

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