Lawmakers Visit Theme Parks and Casinos During DHS Shutdown

Graham's personal trip to the Florida theme park late last month coincided with a partial government shutdown that has dragged on for more than 70 days.

Photos published by TMZ captured Graham dining at Chef Mickey’s, standing in line for Space Mountain, and walking with the bubble wand. He described traveling to South Florida for a meeting with Trump administration officials before heading to Orlando to catch up with friends. Graham emphasized that he voted seven times to fully fund the government.

The shutdown stems from funding for the Department of Homeland Security lapsing on February 14. Democratic lawmakers have refused to pass a spending bill funding the entire department until reforms are made to its immigration arm, including operations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

U.S. Citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in the streets of Minneapolis. Graham's Disney World visit occurred during a two-week recess, as lawmakers remained at an impasse over the funding. He was not the only lawmaker spotted enjoying downtime; photos released by TMZ showed Representative Robert Garcia, a California Democrat, at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino.

Garcia stated his dad has lived in Vegas for 15 years and that he had just finished lunch with him. Garcia also stated that Speaker Mike Johnson should have never sent them all home. Congress is set to go on another break next week.

Graham stated he will spend the upcoming break campaigning in South Carolina and is not going to go to Disney World this time. President Donald Trump issued a presidential memorandum earlier this month directing Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to pay every agency employee using funds that have a reasonable and logical nexus to the functions of DHS.

The Office of Management and Budget warned lawmakers in a new memo that DHS will soon run out of funds to pay employees.

The memo stated that if funding is exhausted, the administration will be unable to pay all DHS personnel beginning in May. The Office of Management and Budget memo further stated that exhaustion of funding will unleash havoc on air travel, leave critical law enforcement officers including Secret Service agents and the Coast Guard without paychecks, and jeopardize national security.

Congress has a 10 percent approval rating according to a recent Gallup poll.

@Independent reported these developments amid the ongoing gridlock.