Rep. Hoyle votes against DHS funding during terror threat

DeSpain Blasts Hoyle for Voting Against DHS Funding During Heightened Terror Threat
By Monique DeSpain for Congress,

EUGENE, Oregon (March 16, 2026) – Monique DeSpain today condemned Congresswoman Val Hoyle for repeatedly voting against legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security while the United States faces an elevated threat environment, a series of recent violent attacks, and growing national security concerns tied to the ongoing conflict with Iran.

Despite the rising risks, Hoyle voted against H.R. 7147 on January 22 and against H.R. 7744 on March 5, both of which passed the House of Representatives and would fund the Department of Homeland Security and the frontline personnel protecting the American people.

However, the Senate has repeatedly failed to pass these House-approved bills, leaving the Department of Homeland Security unfunded and forcing TSA officers, DHS agents, Coast Guard servicemembers, and thousands of other national security professionals to continue working without pay while safeguarding airports, ports, and communities across the country.

“At a moment when the United States faces heightened threats, including the presence of sleeper cells and extremists sympathetic to hostile regimes such as Iran, Val Hoyle chose to vote against funding the very people responsible for protecting the homeland,” said DeSpain. “That decision is reckless, dangerous, and it shows exactly where her priorities lie.”

In recent days, the United States has experienced multiple violent suspected terror attacks that underscore the importance of a fully funded homeland security apparatus.

• On March 1, a mass shooting in Austin, Texas,6 left three people dead and more than a dozen injured. The suspect, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Senegal, carried out the attack before being stopped by law enforcement.
• On March 12, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Lebanon attempted to drive a vehicle filled with explosives into a synagogue in Michigan that was full of children. Security personnel at the synagogue engaged the attacker and stopped the assault before he could harm the innocent victims inside.
• Earlier that same day, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Sierra Leone who had previously been convicted on terrorism charges opened fire at Old Dominion University in Virginia, killing an ROTC instructor and injuring two others before students on campus confronted and killed the attacker, stopping further bloodshed.

“These attacks and the threat of future attempted attacks are exactly why the Department of Homeland Security exists,” DeSpain said. “Yet Val Hoyle has chosen to side with woke activists in Washington and Portland, hell-bent on defunding immigration enforcement rather than stand with the men and women of DHS who risk their lives every day to keep Americans safe.”

DeSpain, a 30-year U.S. Air Force veteran and former Judge Advocate General officer whose job it was to advise senior military officers, said the shutdown and Hoyle’s repeated votes against DHS funding send the wrong message to both America’s security professionals and those who wish the Americans harm.

“The security of our Homeland should never be used as a political bargaining chip,” DeSpain said. “Oregonians deserve a representative who will stand with our TSA officers, our border agents, our Coast Guard members, and every DHS professional working to defend our country – not someone who repeatedly votes against funding them during one of the most dangerous threat environments our country has faced in years.”

Monique DeSpain announced her campaign for Congress on October 1 and is running to bring accountability, stronger public safety, and common-sense leadership to Oregon’s Fourth Congressional District after years of failed leadership from career politicians like Val Hoyle.