Ciscomani Blows Smoke at the Dems, but His Right-Wing Pals Set His House on Fire

Design and composition by Charlie Grantham, rendered with ChatGPT 5.2

“Blowing smoke,” or using words to mislead or distort, is common in American politics. Here in Southern Arizona, the primary emitter of these noxious clouds is Congressman Juan Ciscomani.

His latest murky discharge came March 25 in an op-ed column in the Arizona Daily Star in which he accused congressional Democrats of ”playing politics” with the Department of Homeland Security budget. He claimed that, with the DHS budget not approved by Congress (creating a “partial shutdown” of the government), and thousands of employees, particularly the Transportation Security Administration airport screeners, working for weeks without pay, Congress had failed its duty.

By his version, only Democrats had failed. Republicans, Juan Ciscomani in particular, had risen nobly to the occasion. He, personally, had filed a bill, the Pay Our Homeland Defenders Act, that was passed by the House and was on its way to the Senate. Because he, Juan Ciscomani, has “never voted for a government shutdown.”[https://tucson.com/opinion/column/article_76d76181-69a9-46ab-9025-953fa8a6ae33.html]

A quick reading of Ciscomani’s op-ed could have led readers in the Sixth Congressional District to feel proud of their representative. But Juan’s factual structure was shaky even then, and actions by his fellow House Republicans soon brought his entire argument crashing to the ground.

“This should not be a partisan issue,” he had exclaimed. He blamed Democrats in the Senate, calling out our state’s two senators, Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, in particular, for stonewalling DHS dollars. Kelly, Gallego, and the other Democratic senators, though, had been pushing for weeks for a funding bill that would fully fund TSA, the Coast Guard, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, while penalizing Homeland Security’s vicious immigrant removal program. Although many specific restrictions on immigration enforcement went by the wayside, the Senate did approve a DHS bill, with dollar restrictions on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol agencies.

Then the bill went to the House, which could have signed off on it, too, since getting hard-working Federal employees their paychecks should have been a priority. But that partisanship that Ciscomani deplored raised its ugly head—right beside him, on the Republican side of the House. The Republicans’ Freedom Caucus, the House’s far right wingers, refused to vote for any bill that did anything to restrict ICE and CPB from snatching and deporting members of the US’s minority communities.

(We may have missed it, but Juan hasn’t said a peep about how HIS pals played politics with government workers’ paychecks. But Ciscomani never dares to cross his party’s leaders, anyway.)

         The furious Freedom Caucus (Eric Lee, NY Times)

The House cobbled together a bill that pays everyone in DHS for just two months, and scooted out of Washington for its 14-day spring recess. The only problem with this move is that the senators, having done their part, had already left town, and are reportedly in no mood anyway to address the House’s rejection of their bill. So, Congress accomplished nothing, thanks to the partisanship of Ciscomani’s fellow Republicans, not any Democrats. Juan’s heroic bill never got a mention after its passage in the House and will never see the light of day.

Two final points:

• Ciscomani may never have voted for a government shutdown, but, basically, no one else has either. Shutdowns happen when legislators DON’T vote on bills (see the Freedom Caucus). Juan was just blowing more smoke again.
• He rarely ventures a real opinion on issues vital to the nation, but when he does, his timing is terrible and his expertise seems shaky at best. When the Trump administration snatched Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro, Ciscomani praised the move as a step toward restoring freedom to the oppressed people there. He was immediately undercut by President Trump, who made it clear the move was all about getting access to Venezuelan oil deposits. When the US and Israel attacked Iran and killed its oppressive Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, Ciscomani saw it, again, as a path toward Iranian freedom. Look how that’s working out.

One might wish that Juan Ciscomani would just avoid embarrassing himself with his public statements. On the other hand, we of the Unseat Ciscomani Team here in his district wish him more opportunities to show his constituents how out of touch he is with America, the world, and the US Congress.