In the News

Today, Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) joined House Republican leadership to slam Democrats for their refusal to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) resulting in thousands of TSA officers missing paychecks last week, causing serious travel delays across the country. Whip Emmer also highlighted the SCAM Act, a bill he introduced in January alongside Senator Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) to make it easier to denaturalize and deport any naturalized citizen who supports or joins a designated terrorist organization.

Click here to watch Whip Emmer’s remarks.

Whip Emmer: “Last week, two separate terrorists targeted Americans at a synagogue in Michigan and in a classroom in Virginia. Our prayers are with the family of Lieutenant Colonel Brandon Shah, who was tragically killed by the monster who opened fire at Old Dominion University. The profile of the ODU terrorist is troubling. A naturalized citizen from Sierra Leone, convicted of attempting to support ISIS in 2016, released from prison early by the Biden administration in 2024, only to carry out a terror attack in 2026. The writing was on the wall. Yet, the Biden administration’s soft-on-terrorism policies and our nation’s current immigration laws let this ISIS-affiliated individual stay in America and walk free. An American life was lost as a result. It’s common sense that any naturalized citizen who joins or supports a designated terrorist organization should be denaturalized and deported. But under current law, it’s virtually impossible to do so. That’s why Senator Eric Schmitt and I introduced the SCAM Act earlier this year. This legislation would make it easier to strip terrorists of their citizenship and ship them back to where they came from. It’s simple: Terrorists do not belong on U.S. soil—naturalized or not. As our nation faces varying threats, I will remind you that the Democrats have now shut down the Department of Homeland Security for over a month. Airports across the country are feeling the impact. On Friday, TSA workers received a zero-dollar paycheck because Democrats continue to block DHS funding. More than 300 TSA officers have quit since the start of this shutdown—the second Democrat shutdown in six months. And can you blame them? Because of the Democrats' reckless political games, the men and women of TSA have been forced to work without pay for 43% of this fiscal year—43%, that’s almost half! Democrats are playing political games while these TSA officers struggle to put food on the table, pay the mortgage, and take care of their families. It’s cruel, it’s dangerous, and it's time for this to end. Democrats could stop this immediately today if they wanted to. I hope they do.”