DHS Funding Fight and ICE Oversight

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise used a Fox News appearance Tuesday to attack New York City’s socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, blaming 'Democrat leadership' after Mamdani confirmed that 18 people died in the city during a recent Arctic cold snap and accusing him of failing to protect homeless residents. Scalise folded the deaths into Republicans’ pressure campaign over Department of Homeland Security funding, warning that if Democrats reject the current GOP-backed compromise, FEMA disaster relief could run short and TSA agents at major hubs like Atlanta and LaGuardia would be forced to work without pay in a shutdown. Mamdani has said his administration deployed warming vehicles and urged homeless New Yorkers to seek shelter as temperatures plunged, but GOP critics argue the city did not sufficiently expand emergency services or capacity ahead of the storm. The article notes it is unclear what direct role FEMA currently has in aiding New York’s response to the cold wave but shows Republicans using those deaths and the prospect of disrupted air travel to frame Democrats as courting 'chaos' and 'open borders' rather than negotiating ICE limits. The clash comes as DHS funding is set to expire at week’s end, making winter-weather casualties and airport operations central talking points in a broader fight over immigration enforcement and shutdown blame.