S.Amdt. 200

SA 200. Mr. TOOMEY (for himself and Mr. Alexander) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed by him to the joint resolution H.J.
Res. 46, relating to a national emergency declared by the President on
February 15, 2019; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. __. FINDINGS.

Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Fentanyl and fentanyl analogues were responsible for
more than 28,400 overdose deaths in the United States in
2017, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse.
(2) According to the Department of Homeland Security, U.S.
Customs and Border Protection has reported that fentanyl
smuggling between ports of entry at the southern border of
the United States more than doubled from fiscal year 2017 to
fiscal year 2018.
(3) According to the Department of Homeland Security, in
the past 5 years, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has seen
a 620 percent increase in families--or those posing as
families--apprehended at the border, with fiscal year 2018
being the highest on record for family apprehensions at the
border.
(4) The journey to the southern border for women and
children traveling from Central America is fraught with
incredible danger, including increased risk of violence and
sexual abuse from gangs and coyotes.
(5) The bipartisan Secure Fence Act of 2006 (Public Law
109-367; 120 Stat. 2638) was signed into law on October 26,
2006, and mandated that the Department of Homeland Security
achieve and maintain operational control of the international
land border, using physical infrastructure as well as other
means, to ensure ``the prevention of all unlawful entries
into the United States, including entries by terrorists,
other unlawful aliens, instruments of terrorism, narcotics,
and other contraband''.
(6) Over the past 25 years, the United States Government
has constructed 654 miles of physical barriers on the
southern border.
(7) The Department of Homeland Security is only seeking to
expand the physical barrier on the southern border in
operationally necessary locations, not to build a physical
barrier for all 1,954 miles of the southern border.
(8) U.S. Customs and Border Protection has identified 17
high priority locations on the southern border where there is
a current operational need for physical barriers.
(9) On January 6, 2019, the President requested that
Congress appropriate $5,700,000,000 for the construction of
approximately 234 miles of new physical barriers to fully
fund the top 10 high priority locations identified by U.S.
Customs and Border Protection.
(10) On February 15, 2019, the Consolidated Appropriations
Act, 2019 (Public Law 116-6) was signed into law, providing
the Department of Homeland Security with $1,375,000,000 for
``the construction of primary pedestrian fencing, including
levee pedestrian fencing, in the Rio Grande Valley Sector''.
(11) On February 15, 2019, the President announced the
Treasury Forfeiture Fund would provide to U.S. Customs and
Border Protection $601,000,000 for physical barriers along
the southern border under the authority of section 9705 of
title 31, United States Code, which established the Fund and
allows the Secretary of the Treasury to provide monies from
the Fund for use ``in connection with the law enforcement
activities of any Federal agency''.
(12) On February 15, 2019, the President announced that
Department of Defense funds would be made available from the
Department's Drug Interdiction and Counter-Drug Activities
account for physical barriers along the southern border under
the authority of section 284 of title 10, United States Code,
which authorizes the Secretary of Defense to ``provide
support for the counterdrug activities or activities to
counter transnational organized crime of any other department
or agency of the Federal Government'', including for the
``[c]onstruction of roads and fences and installation of
lighting to block drug smuggling corridors across
international boundaries of the United States''.
(13) Section 8005 of division A of the Department of
Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education
Appropriations Act, 2019 (Public Law 115-245) permits the
Secretary of Defense to transfer up to $4,000,000,000 of
funds to other accounts, including the Department of
Defense's Drug Interdiction and Counter-Drug Activities
account, provided that ``such action is necessary in the
national interest''.
(14) The sum of the amounts described in paragraphs (10)
through (13) is $5,976,000,000, an amount in excess of the
$5,700,000,000 sought by the President for 234 miles of
physical barriers along the southern border in the request
described in paragraph (9).
(15) On June 27, 2013, the Senate agreed to the Border
Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization
Act (S. 744, 113th Congress), which was introduced by Senator
Charles E. Schumer (Democrat of New York), and included the
following congressional finding: ``As a Nation, we have the
right and responsibility to make our borders safe, to
establish clear and just rules for seeking citizenship, to
control the flow of legal immigration, and to eliminate
illegal immigration, which in some cases has become a threat
to our national security.''.

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