Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 3401) making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 462 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only.

General Leave

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, today, the Rules Committee met and reported a rule, House Resolution 462, providing for consideration of H.R. 3401 under a closed rule. One hour of general debate has been provided, controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. Speaker, I have fought for human rights my entire career. As co- chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, I have seen troubling conditions abroad, but never in my wildest imagination did I ever think I would see such inhumane conditions here at home, all because of the President's cruel and failed immigration policies.

We have children today at border facilities forced to sleep on concrete floors, with the lights kept on 24 hours a day. They are not being given soap, diapers, or even a toothbrush. Lice combs are being shared. Bottles aren't able to be washed. In some cases, children are being supervised by other kids not much older than themselves.

This is happening in America today because of the choices made by President Trump. It is horrific. This is child abuse, plain and simple.

In a document obtained by ABC News, one physician who visited recently described the conditions there by saying: ``The conditions within which they are held could be compared to torture facilities.''

Torture facilities, Mr. Speaker, at the behest of this administration. This should sicken every single American.

This administration seems to relish this and use the lives of these children as political theater. The President even had the audacity to claim, ``We're doing a fantastic job under the circumstances.''

Are you kidding me? Lives are being torn apart. There were some children who we know will never be reunited with their families, who are being locked in cages and forced to endure inhumane and unspeakable conditions.

There is a special place in hell for those who are ripping children from the arms of their mothers, putting them in cages without even a blanket, arguing that they shouldn't even get basic necessities like a toothbrush.

If your heart doesn't break, if you don't want to do everything you can to end this, then you should really take a hard look in the mirror. This majority doesn't agree with the President's policies. We will not turn a blind eye to this humanitarian catastrophe.

This bill delivers billions to provide necessities like food, water, and blankets, and it will also fund things like legal assistance and support services for unaccompanied children and refugees.

There are also strict limits here on influx shelters. It protects sponsors from DHS immigration enforcement based on information collected by HHS during the vetting process. It creates strong oversight by Congress, including to protect unaccompanied children.

This legislation also reverses the administration's senseless decision to block the humanitarian funding that Congress has already appropriated for the Northern Triangle countries.

At the same time, we do not provide a single penny for the President's failed mass-detention policy. There are humane alternatives here instead because we are not going to help this President continue this cruelty.

Mr. Speaker, this is not a perfect measure, but this isn't a big immigration bill. This is an appropriations bill. I want to recognize the extraordinary leadership of Chairwoman Lowey, Chairwoman DeLauro, and Chairwoman Roybal-Allard. They have been dedicated to getting this done.

The updated language submitted today will enhance protections for the rights and for the dignity of migrants even further.

It wasn't too long ago that President Reagan said America was best represented as ``the shining city upon a hill.'' It should sicken all of us that this administration apparently believes this country is, instead, best represented by separated children living in filth in a cage down by the border.

I urge all my colleagues to vote for this bill and the underlying legislation so we can honor our values and show the real humanity of the American people.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, at this moment, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, let me provide a little bit of a news flash for my Republican friends. The Senate bill has a hold on it by a Republican from the home State of the Senate Majority Leader, and I saw a news report today that the chairman of the Appropriations Committee in the Senate, Mr. Shelby, was asked by a reporter: Do you have assurance that the President would sign the bill that the Senate produced?

Mr. Shelby replied that he did not.

So this is moving, and I would urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support it.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentlewoman from Texas an additional 1 minute.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, let me just say to the gentleman from Texas, he went through a series of quotes, and I think what Democrats were responding to was the crisis that the President was talking about.

The President, as you know, Mr. Speaker, for years has been railing against immigrants. He talked about an infestation of immigrants. He has characterized immigrants in the most derogatory and the most hateful terms possible, that we were being invaded. That is not the crisis that we are talking about here today.

The crisis we are talking about here today is the one the President created, the mistreatment of children in U.S. custody. There is no denying it.

Read the press accounts. Read The New Yorker; read The New York Times; and read The Washington Times. They talk about how little children have been mistreated at the border under U.S. custody, and that should offend every single person in this Chamber; and that this administration created and manufactured this crisis in order to make political points, I think, is unconscionable.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Davis).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Let me just say, I am so sorry the gentlewoman was inconvenienced, but I think she misspoke when she said that Republicans--or she--just received the bill at 5:00.

The bill has been available since last week. The only thing that was different was there was an amendment, a manager's amendment. It was seven pages long, double spaced, on single sides. It didn't take that long to read.

So, I am sorry whether or not she couldn't get through it all, but it is not a new bill. This bill has been around.

Let me also say, again, for the record: We don't agree. We don't agree with the crisis that the President has been talking about for years and years and years and years, the derogatory fashion and way in which he refers to immigrants. We don't agree.

He talked about there being an infestation of immigrants, that we are being invaded. No, that is not the crisis.

The crisis that he created, that this administration created, which should, quite frankly, cause more outrage on the other side of the aisle, was separating children from their parents. And, as we gather here today, there are countless children who may never be reunited with their parents.

The crisis that he created was denying these children in our custody basic things--basic necessities like soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes-- and where little kids were being taken care of by other little kids.

This is an outrage, and it is a crisis that he manufactured, that he created. And we need to fix it.

So, that is what this bill is trying to do. If my colleagues on the other side of the aisle don't want to support it, fine. But we are going to do what is right. That is why we ran for office. That is why we won the last election, because people were horrified by what was happening at the border, the way we were treating other human beings.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments from the gentleman from Arizona. He talks about ICE. He wants more funding for ICE. The previous speaker talked about more money for the Department of Defense.

We are talking about children here. That is what this bill addresses: money for State-licensed shelters, legal services, child advocates, post-release services, Federal field specialists, case management services, and money for the Office of the Inspector General.

The humanitarian crisis is that children are being mistreated at our border and we need to address it, and that is what we are trying to do with this bill.

So, I appreciate all the other things that my Republican friends want to fund, but the crisis that we need to address right now is the mistreatment of children at our border.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

The gentleman did offer an amendment in the Rules Committee. He is a member of the Rules Committee. He knew there was a budget point of order against it, so it was not compliant with the rules of the House, so it wasn't made in order.

I am not sure what the gentleman was talking about, about these young children--2, 3, 4 years old--what? To request that they be sent back to their homes, that they could somehow just walk out of where they are being held right now? I am not quite sure what he is talking about.

The bottom line is, there is also money in here for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. My friends know that, if they have read the bill.

So I just have to say, I think where the outrage is here is that this administration has overseen an immigration policy which does not reflect the values of this country, where children have been separated from their parents, and now we see children being held in the worst conditions possible.

It does not reflect the values of the American people, and we need to pass this bill to try to remedy that.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I, too, have great respect for the gentleman from Oklahoma. We don't always agree on everything, but there are some things we do agree on.

I want to say this with great respect for him and for the gentlewoman from Arizona, and I am sorry if I offended her in the way I responded to her comments. But my friends had the bill for quite some time. What is new today is the amendment, the 7-page amendment.

It is not correct to say that the bill was just given to the minority at 4:30 or 5 today or whenever, right before we met. The bottom line is that Members have had it for a while. The amendment, which is 7 pages, is something new.

The amendment has been characterized as us moving to the left. Let me remind people what is in this amendment. There are stronger requirements for care of unaccompanied minor children, tightened restrictions on influx shelters, accountability for contractors violating standards at influx shelters, funding for the Immigration Court Help Desk program, ensuring access to translation services.

That is not left or right or middle of the road. To me, it just sounds like common sense. To characterize this as a move to the left, I just don't get it.

Mr. Speaker, this administration's actions at the border should not be ignored. What these children are going through should not be minimized. But that hasn't stopped some on the other side of the aisle from trying, as they continue to defend any move that this administration makes.

I mean, we didn't hear a lot of talk about the children in the debate on the other side. Some did raise the issue, but most of the talk was on other things.

Last night, I heard one of my friends on the other side of the aisle defend the conditions at these border facilities in an interview, and he came to the floor again today. He said that there was ``no lock on the door,'' and, ``Any child is free to leave at any time. But they don't, and you know why? Because they're well taken care of.''

Mr. Speaker, is he really suggesting that a 3- or 4-year-old unaccompanied child should just get up and walk out of one of these facilities? Come on, what are we talking about here?

I don't know how anybody could say being denied soap or being denied toothbrushes and medical care is being well taken care of, because these are inhumane conditions, and I think it is child abuse.

America is better than this, and we must demand better for these kids.

Let's vote on this rule and on the underlying bill so that we can get this aid where it is needed as quickly as possible and hold this administration accountable.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I thank my good friend, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), for yielding me the customary 30 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, we are here today on our second rule of the day. This one is on a supplemental appropriations bill for the southern border. While the Rules Committee met to consider this bill last night and took testimony on it, due to some reported revolts in the Democratic Caucus, we did not actually report this bill out last night.

Instead, we met on this bill at 5:30 this afternoon and reported it to the floor 10 minutes later, using the same-day authority that Chairman McGovern has so often referred to as martial law.

Our emergency meeting this afternoon includes several last-minute changes in the bill that have provided little opportunity for anyone on either side of the aisle to actually review. Tragically, that is the story of this bill: last-minute changes made on short notice in an attempt to push through a partisan agenda at the expense of not only deliberation and consideration by the House of Representatives but, more importantly, at the expense of innocent children.

H.R. 3401 is a supplemental appropriations bill providing funding for the humanitarian crisis on the southern border. When it comes to H.R. 3401, I have good news and bad news.

The good news is that the Democrats finally agree that we need a supplemental appropriations funding bill for the southern border after Republicans have been sounding the alarm for months. The fact is, as my friends know, the President first requested assistance in this matter on May 1, almost 2 months ago.

A lot of the crisis at the border is because my friends simply didn't discharge their responsibilities. If you are the guy that is supposed to pay for the toothpaste and the soap, and you don't, you have some measure of responsibility when they are not delivered on time.

There is actually some more good news here. There is a real opportunity

for us to produce a bipartisan, bicameral bill that can become law.

The bad news is that H.R. 3401 is not that bill. In here, the majority is once again making no pretense to even pretending to work with the minority.

H.R. 3401 contains several partisan provisions.

It fails to provide supplemental funding for the Department of Defense despite the significant resources the military has expended responding to this crisis.

It includes partisan policy riders that tie the hands of the administration and fail to provide the flexibility necessary for the government to adequately address the crisis.

Most notably, this bill was produced without any Republican input at all.

Mr. Speaker, I want to reiterate what I said a moment ago. Both Republicans and now Democrats agree that there is a need for a supplemental appropriations bill. Why the majority failed to take advantage of the opportunity this agreement provides, I don't know.

Until the majority chooses to work with Republicans on this and produce a bipartisan bill, I fear we will simply be heading down the exact same path we have trodden so often before in this Congress, with the House pushing yet another piece of partisan legislation that will not pass the Senate and will not be signed into law by the President. That is disappointing, to say the least.

Mr. Speaker, this state of affairs could and should have been avoided. Instead of pushing three partisan bills this week, the majority could have chosen to work with Republicans to craft bipartisan bills to address all three of these problems.

Even if that did not come to pass, the majority at the Rules Committee could have worked with us to make minority amendments in order and to give all Members an opportunity to fix these flawed bills on the floor, or at least be heard. That they did not is merely yet another indication of where the majority's priorities lie, with pushing partisan bills to score political points and avoiding doing the hard work of actually making law.

There is a chance to change this, Mr. Speaker, but in order to do so, the majority needs to decide whether they are here to score political points or if they are here to make law.

I remind my friends on the other side, passing a bill that is a partisan bill through this Chamber won't solve the problem. I congratulate them on having a vehicle to go to conference. That is a good thing. But when they get there, they are going to find out they are going to have to do something they haven't done, frankly, throughout their tenure in the majority, and that is actually sit down and compromise with people on the other side of the aisle and work with the administration.

I hope they prove up to that task because if they don't, we will have exactly the same result--that is, legislation passing here but not succeeding in the other Chamber.

That will not solve the crisis on the border. It will exacerbate it.

Mr. Chair, I urge opposition to the rule, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Woodall), my good friend.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, we have heard some pretty harsh words about the administration's failure to respond. The reality is the administration asked 2 months ago of our friends who were slow to respond.

The administration warned us of what would happen, and it is unfolding

in front of our eyes, and it is unfolding because of the failure of Democrats in the House to actually take it seriously.

Let's go back to the rhetoric at the time: it is a manufactured crisis; it is not real; it is all made up.

That turned out to be a bad mistake, and it set us back weeks in this Chamber getting to where we finally are beginning to get a response.

Frankly, our friends simply couldn't get their act together on this for a while. I am glad they are beginning to do that now.

But let's also look at a little history, Mr. Speaker.

This problem isn't new. What is new is the slowness to respond. We faced this very same problem when we were in the majority and President Obama was in office in 2014. He asked for $3.7 billion. He got it within 24 days, and he got it without a lot of extraneous conditions added on it. That is exactly the opposite of the manner in which our friends on the other side are responding at the last minute. But they are responding, and for that I give them some credit.

But again, what is new is the slowness of response, the unwillingness to work with the other Chamber, and the unwillingness to work with the President to meet an emergency that he warned us was coming 2 months ago.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy).

Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman from Texas an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs. Lesko), my good friend and fellow member of the Rules Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs), my good friend.

Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman from Arizona an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to briefly yield myself such time as I may consume to make a quick point.

My friend is saying there is no money for Border Patrol and the military. Whose custody do you think those children are in for the first couple of days?

The problems are actually at those facilities. They have not been identified at Health and Human Services, other than they are just simply too full because my friends have spent so much time arguing about this rather than giving the administration the money that it asked for in a timely fashion, 2 months ago.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess), my very good friend, fellow Rules Committee member, and distinguished doctor.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Spano).

I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman from Florida.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

If we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to immediately bring up H.R. 3056, the Border Crisis Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2019.

Unlike the bill before us today, H.R. 3056 provides all the necessary funding that the administration has requested to address the humanitarian crisis on the southern border. The bill provides funding for the Department of Defense, which has expended significant resources responding to the crisis. It also provides the funding for refugee and entrant assistance and for U.S. Customs and Border Protection that the administration has requested and has told us is necessary to meet the crisis.

Most notably, this bill does so without adding any of the partisan riders that plague the majority's version of the supplemental. We can provide funding to meet this crisis without tying the hands of the administration and leaving them no wiggle room or flexibility.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment in the Record, along with extraneous material, immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Gonzalez).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

I want to begin by telling my good friend how much I respect him, how much I admire him. I know how passionate he is on the issue of the children. No doubt about that.

I also want to tell my friend that I think, 8 weeks ago, we should have been acting on this. We were told there wasn't a crisis, and there wasn't a serious effort on the other side.

Last night, when my friends were struggling to find the votes, frankly, we could have delivered a lot of votes. Instead, they moved the bill further to the left to placate the most extreme elements in their own conference. I think that is going to make to it much harder to come to a deal eventually with the Senate and with the administration.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I urge opposition to this rule. The rule will make in order consideration of H.R. 3401, a supplemental appropriations bill that could have been a bipartisan bill. Instead, the majority chose to make it partisan, failing to fund the national security elements of the border crisis, including partisan policy riders that tie the hands of the administration.

Not to be outdone, the majority also pushed through last-minute changes, using the same-day rule authority that had not been adequately considered by anyone on either side of the aisle.

Let me just reiterate, for the record, to reinforce the point my friend Mrs. Lesko made. Look, we got this bill at 4:57. We convened the Rules Committee at 5:30.

I can read things, but I can't always understand everything, let alone research everything in 33 minutes. We haven't got a single opportunity to offer a single amendment to this bill.

That is unfortunate, and I don't think it is a process that is likely to lead to a successful outcome.

Mr. Speaker, I want to conclude by urging my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question, to vote ``no'' on the rule, to vote ``no'' on the underlying measure.

Let's go to work on a bipartisan bill. Let's meet all the requests the administration has asked for, in terms of resources. Give them the flexibility they need to do the job and recognize this is not a new problem.

We dealt with it, frankly, pretty successfully when President Obama was here by giving them the resources and the flexibility they needed. I am sorry my friends are not extending that same courtesy to the current President.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, it has been 56 days since the Trump administration asked for emergency funding to address the humanitarian crisis at our southern border, 56 days.

The New York Times had two editorials--not one, but two. Mexico is now sending 15,000 troops to the southern border. But Democrats, Madam Speaker, have rejected a bill to provide the aid that is needed not once, not twice, not even 10 times, but 18 times.

Madam Speaker, I was shocked when I actually heard from the other side of the aisle that someone said there is a crisis. I guess after 56 days, they read some of those editorials. Now, after weeks of doing nothing and denying that a crisis exists, they are offering legislation that is misguided and is purely political.

They are, once again, taking what should be a bipartisan issue and inserting partisan poison pills. I would say I would be shocked, but this isn't the only issue they have done that on this year.

Madam Speaker, they took a bill that had a 100 percent vote from Republicans and Democrats dealing with prescription drugs, and before it got through the Speaker's Office, Madam Speaker, it became political, a poison pill.

They took a bill that was in Ways and Means that got every Republican and every Democrat to vote for it, but, again, before it came to the floor, another poison pill.

I guess we might have to get used to this, but the American public should not.

Madam Speaker, that isn't how it is being used on the other side of this building. In the Senate, they actually took up this issue. They passed it out of committee 30-1.

I know my colleagues might be shocked because I said that went through committee. I know my colleagues might be shocked because I said it was bipartisan. I know my colleagues might be shocked because they actually let the Senators read the bill.

Madam Speaker, when we were on this floor being sworn in, there were a lot of promises made, and a lot of promises have been broken.

There was a rule change, 72 hours. It actually marked the number of hours.

Last night, I watched the Rules Committee. They were going to come before the Rules Committee with a bill that we did not see in committee.

But do you know what? They couldn't get the votes. So we had to say no to the Rules Committee.

They will come back at 10. So I eagerly waited at 10. No, we could not come back.

It is going to be at 11. I eagerly waited for 11. It did not happen.

But, luckily, politically, they got in the back of the room and they were able to buy off some more, Madam Speaker, in a political nature and rush something to the floor.

I wondered if they were going to keep that rule that they championed so hard about 72 hours. Well, I don't know, maybe 5 equals 72. I am not sure what math they keep nowadays.

But let's talk about how they make this problem even worse, because I am not sure anybody has read the bill. I am not sure even if those on the other side know what is in it.

Now, here is how it is worse. Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services cannot share information about the sponsors of children.

Think about that for one moment. They are making sure two departments cannot share information within their own government.

Now, this is necessary to ensure that children are not placed with human traffickers or with predators. Maybe if they had a little time and maybe if they didn't care about politics, they would have allowed a little sharing of information for the children.

Organizations like Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Justice are underfunded. Requests for pay and overtime costs for Border Patrol agents are denied. Think about that.

In the last month, 144,000 people were apprehended coming across the border illegally. These are unbelievable numbers that we have not seen in decades.

So what do the Democrats rush? Deny overtime and deny the ability for those who are serving us the ability to work.

Immigration judges do not get the resources they needed for additional staff or courtroom space or equipment. America is a country that believes in the rule of law, but I guess on this floor it is not the case. The majority wants to deny it.

Now, I wonder that maybe, Madam Speaker, on the other side they say: Well, it is just a rush to judgment; it is such a big bill, I didn't get to read it.

But do you know what? Earlier today, everyone in this Chamber had the ability to vote for more funding for judges just to deal with this crisis, because I have heard, Madam Speaker, on the other side of the aisle, they actually now use the word ``crisis.''

It only took 56 days, but, lo and behold, when they had that moment not to be confused, not to have a big bill but only that subject, every single Democrat on the other side of the aisle, except seven, said ``no.'' So the majority made sure they put in this political bill as well.

Deny overtime during a crisis, because you said it was a crisis, but make sure nobody can work. You have a crisis, but make sure, Madam Speaker, that we can't have the judges down there, because somehow, I guess, maybe you don't believe in the rule of law; and additional funding to investigate human traffickers who you know are smuggling these children across the border is not included.

Maybe, Madam Speaker, that is why you want to rush this bill to the floor. Maybe that is why you don't want to give people an opportunity to read it.

How will you answer that? How will you answer that additional funding to investigate human traffickers who are smuggling children you do not want to include, Madam Speaker?

Did you read the editorials? Is it wrong to prevent the administration from improving the welfare of unaccompanied children, as this bill will do?

Democrats are far more interested in appearing to help children than in actually helping them. The pace and volume at which children have crossed our border over the last year have completely overwhelmed our existing resources.

Madam Speaker, you are making sure that nobody could work overtime during this. In the first half of 2019, more than 56,000 unaccompanied children were apprehended by Customs and Border Protection. That is a 74 percent increase from last year and higher than the yearly totals for the last 5.

Luckily, someone finally realized that is a crisis--but make sure there is no money to deal with it. Health and Human Services shelters are full and out of money. They cannot care for the children if Congress does not pass solutions.

Now, HHS Secretary Alex Azar sent us a very clear message. Madam Speaker, this is what he said: ``I can't put a

kid in a bed that does not exist and I cannot make a bed that Congress doesn't fund.

Madam Speaker, to think that you would knowingly pass something that causes this problem.

Madam Speaker, Democrats are proud that their bill, unlike the Senate, does not help our overstretched law enforcement officers. That is shameful to take pride in making sure they do not get the help.

Border Patrol agents now spend half of their time processing claims and caring for families in custody, including making trips to hospitals and clinics. They are going beyond the call of duty every day and deserve our support, whether you like them or not. If the children who come across our southern border are to be properly cared for, Madam Speaker, Democrats' distrust of our national law enforcement officers must stop.

Madam Speaker, it has been 56 days, but all Democrats threw together is a sham bill more than 3 hours ago. It does not adequately fund what needed to be funded and would only make the crisis worse. Democrats are holding another vote late in the night on legislation that has no chance of becoming law.

Madam Speaker, we are better than this.

Madam Speaker, it is not very far if you walk out these doors; you look down that hall; you will see the other Chamber.

Do you know what happened in the other Chamber? They worked a bill through committee. They worked a bipartisan bill through committee. They didn't run it to the floor in 3 hours. They didn't tell the Rules Committee to be ready and wait and wait and wait and then quickly after, they cut a deal, on one side. They took something that is critical, something that is serious, and they acted that way.

History will write about what happens on this floor. Madam Speaker, you may get emotional; you may be proud of your actions; but the question will be: Will history be kind to you? The question will be: When you voted that day, when you were sworn in, did you really mean 72 hours?

Madam Speaker, when you stand on the floor and you speak of a crisis and you speak of caring for children, why would you not fund to make sure people are not trafficking them?

Madam Speaker, when you spoke about there was a crisis on the border, why would you not fund the men and women who work for our government? Why would you try to deny them overtime?

Madam Speaker, I know the Fourth of July is soon, and I know Members want to get out of here, but America is more than a country. America is an idea, an idea of self-governance, an idea that the rule of law matters.

This is not one of our finest moments. This is not one that I am proud of. What is so shameful, Madam Speaker, is, just a few yards away, they are showing us an example.

Are you rushing because you are afraid the Senate is going to send us something that is bipartisan? Are you rushing because you are afraid the Senate will actually make law?

Madam Speaker, there are a lot of things we could play political games with, but I never thought children would be the one you wanted to use. We are better than this.

There is a moment in time where you should stand up to your own leadership. There is a moment in time that you should stand up for this country. There is a moment in time, Madam Speaker, and this is it.

Madam Speaker, you don't have to follow and be rushed. You can say: No, I watched what the Senate has done. I watched people with my own philosophical belief who belong to my own party work together with the other side and actually come with a bill that could become law. It is not perfect. It is not what I would agree with 100 percent. But do you know what? I understand our government is designed to find compromise.

I don't know what compromise is in this. I don't know who ever worked with another side. I don't even know who rushed it to the Rules Committee just to do some manager's amendment because you bought off a few people.

This is not our finest moment by far, but, Madam Speaker, there is a moment in time when individuals can stand up, and I am hoping that the moment is tonight, that we actually stand for what this country believes and what we will celebrate on the Fourth of July.

Will the gentlewoman yield?

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. I appreciate that.

I have spoken to the leader on the Senate side, and they will bring it up tomorrow. They had passed this bill in committee 30-1.

I ask the gentlewoman: What would be the problem--and I know we have only had 3 hours with this bill. Why would we not take up the Senate bill when it is bipartisan and the President would sign it?

Mr. Speaker, let me thank the gentleman from Massachusetts, and let me also indicate to my good friends on the other side of the aisle how grateful I am to the Democratic leadership who put children first and have worked with the CHC, the CPC, the CBC, and the whole Democratic Caucus for the passionate views that Members have, many of the Members who have made repeated trips to the border.

As a Representative from a border State living with this on a very daily basis and interacting with my colleagues who live actually on the border but also seeing the results of it by many of those who have come to Houston, Texas, I understand that we have to get this right.

Let me also say to my good friend Chris Cuomo, who, night after night after night after night, would ask the question, ``What is Congress doing?'' I can assure him that the mess that we are in, unfortunately, goes right to the foot and the front door of the White House, for if it were not the overfocus on building a wall, or the insisting on maintaining individuals on the Mexican border when Mexico is not prepared, or the steering away of funds from the likes of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador and the rage of individuals who are fleeing in desperation to get away from persecution and having the right to claim the legal right of asylum, which is international law, maybe we would not be here.

The reason why I can say that is because, in the last couple of hours, the head of CBP, in good conscience, in their own moral compass, and in their own standard of what is right and what is indignity, could not stand by where almost 100 children were returned back to the filth that they had had to live in.

Now, I know the people in CBP. I know that there are good, hardworking people all over the border who work for the Federal Government, but there is the lack of resources because we are being held up by individuals who did not want to transfer or to focus on their needs over a wall or over mass deportation, policies that were distracting from helping these children.

I also know that when there is a will, there is a way. So the question of whether or not they could find toothpaste, toothbrushes, and soap appalls me, that the administration could not readily have those resources for those border personnel. It is a disgrace.

I know it because I was there holding little Roger, 9 months old, who had been separated from his family. Roger couldn't speak, so if he didn't have a clean diaper, he could not speak.

But in this bill that we are dealing with--and we are still making sure that we are dealing with the administration, telling them that they have to provide aid to Central American countries--we are doing something that is not done: $200 million omitted from the Senate bill for processing a Senate pilot program.

This program would provide medical treatment, food, clothing, telephone access, legal representation, asylum interviews, and other services to migrant families and unaccompanied children, the same children who were down there; and we wonder why this wealthy country and the executive who has the ability to move dollars around could not get the minimal, bare needs of those people. $92 million for medical care, which is what I begged for; $90.6 million for temporary duty and overtime; $90 million for transport; preventing spending money for any purpose that isn't specifically described in the measure, such as expanding border barriers.

More people are coming because they are desperate, from countries, Haiti and African countries. We are going to get enhanced translators to help people understand, and if they are determined to be able to be in this country through the asylum process, they would be allowed.

We are acknowledging the fact that there is desperation. We are acknowledging the fact that our CBP and others need to do their job, but we are acknowledging the fact that this is our responsibility. We are going to help these children. We are going to hold them to us like they are ours, and we are going to make sure that there are not these kinds of horrible descriptions and conditions that our little babies have to suffer through. We are going to do that today.

Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of the Committees on the Judiciary and Homeland Security, I rise in support of the rule governing debate on H.R. 3401, the ``Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Humanitarian Assistance and Security at the Southern Border Act of 2019,'' and the underlying legislation.

I support this legislation because it provides the humanitarian assistance needed to address the inhumane conditions and treatment of immigrants, especially immigrant children, that this administration has created and allowed to persist.

The scenes emanating from the Southern border are heartbreaking, and they have been for a very long time.

I remember when I was at the border, visiting with children separated from the border.

I remember young baby Roger, a very young child, who should not have been subject to these conditions.

We are learning of other children living in squalid conditions.

A chaotic scene of sickness and filth is unfolding in an overcrowded border station in Clint, Texas, my homestate, where hundreds of young people who have recently crossed the border are being held, according to lawyers who visited the facility this week.

Some of the children have been there for nearly a month.

Children as young as 7 and 8, many of them wearing clothes caked with human excrement and tears, are caring for infants they've just met, the lawyers said.

Toddlers without diapers are relieving themselves in their pants.

Teenage mothers are wearing clothes stained with breast milk.

Most of the young detainees have not been able to shower or wash their clothes since they arrived at the facility, those who visited said.

They have no access to toothbrushes, toothpaste or soap.

The arrival of thousands of migrants at a time, overflowing the border patrol facilities of the Customs and Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Health and Human Services, has created a humanitarian crisis that has resulted in unsafe, unsanitary conditions and tragic deaths.

All sides need to come together immediately and commit the necessary resources and capabilities to manage this situation and provide for the basic human rights of everyone involved.

If Congress and the administration fail to come to an agreement, the situation at the border will only deteriorate. Cutting funding to these agencies now will not punish the agencies or the administration: it will punish the migrants. Congress has an urgent moral responsibility to protect children and families, and defend the health, dignity and lives of those in need.

Conditions at Customs and Border Protection facilities along the border have been an issue of increasing concern as officials warn that the recent large influx of migrant families has driven many of the facilities well past their capacities.

In May, the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security warned of ``dangerous overcrowding'' among adult migrants housed at the border processing center in El Paso, with up to 900 migrants being held at a facility designed for 125. In some cases, cells designed for 35 people were holding 155 people.

This is why it is imperative to support this supplemental funding bill, which:

Provides $4.5 billion in emergency spending to address the humanitarian crisis at the border--securing robust funding for priorities including legal assistance, food, water, sanitary items, blankets and medical services, support services for unaccompanied children, and refugee services, which will relieve the horrific situation of over-crowding and help prevent additional deaths.

Protects families and does not fund the administration's failed mass detention policy--funding effective, humane alternatives to detention with a proven track record of success, placing strict limits on influx shelters, protecting sponsors from DHS immigration enforcement based on information collected by HHS during the vetting process and creating strong oversight by Congress including to protect unaccompanied children.

Helps address the roots causes of the crisis--reversing the administration's senseless decision to block the U.S. assistance that Congress has already appropriated for the Northern Triangle countries, and ensuring funding is used responsibly to improve border security, stop human smuggling and drug trafficking, combat corruption and reduce poverty and promote growth in Central America.

And the bill is sure to guarantee that it does not use the emergency that is this crisis, for the purpose of advancing any other policy objectives.

Specifically, the supplemental also contains important oversight provisions to hold the administration accountable and to protect the rights and dignity of migrants, including:

No funding for a border wall or barriers, or for ICE detention beds;

Prohibits the use of funds for any purpose not specifically described;

Places strict conditions on influx shelters to house children by mandating compliance with requirements set forth in the Flores settlement;

Protects sponsors and potential sponsors from DHS immigration enforcement based on information collected by HHS during the sponsor vetting process;

Ensures congressional oversight visits to facilities caring for unaccompanied children without a requirement for prior notice;

Requires monthly reporting on unaccompanied children separated from their families;

Requires additional reporting about the deaths of children in government custody; and

Ensures CBP facilities funded in the bill comply with the National Standards on Transport, Escort, Detention, and Search.

I urge all members to support the rule and the underlying legislation.

Madam Speaker, as a senior member of the Committees on the Judiciary and Homeland Security, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3401, the ``Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Humanitarian Assistance and Security at the Southern Border Act of 2019.''

I support this legislation because it provides the humanitarian assistance needed to address the inhumane conditions and treatment of immigrants, especially immigrant children, that this Administration has created and allowed to persist.

The scenes emanating from the Southern border are heartbreaking, and they have been for a very long time.

I remember when I was at the border, visiting with children separated from their families.

I remember young baby Roger, a very young child, who was separated from his family.

We are learning of children living in squalid conditions.

A chaotic scene of sickness and filth is unfolding in an overcrowded border station in Clint, Texas, my homestate, where hundreds of young people who have recently crossed the border are being held, according to lawyers who visited the facility this week.

Some of the children have been there for nearly a month.

Children as young as 7 and 8, many of them wearing clothes caked with human excrement and tears, are caring for infants they've just met.

Toddlers without diapers are relieving themselves in their pants.

Teenage mothers are wearing clothes stained with breast milk.

Most of the young detainees have not been able to shower or wash ( their clothes since they arrived at the facility, those who visited said.

And it is inexplicable, indefensible, and inhumane that they are not even being provided toothbrushes, toothpaste or soap.

Just reflect on that for a moment; innocent children and toddlers are being denied soap and toothpaste at the very same time that similar treatment to a prisoner of war would violate Article 26 of the 1949 Geneva Convention:

The Detaining Power shall be bound to take all sanitary

measures necessary to ensure the cleanliness and

healthfulness of camps and to prevent epidemics . . . . Also,

apart from the baths and showers with which the camps shall

be furnished, prisoners of war shall be provided with

sufficient water and soap for their personal toilet and for

washing their personal laundry; the necessary installations,

facilities and time shall be granted them for that purpose.

The arrival of thousands of migrants at a time, overflowing the border patrol facilities of the Customs and Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Health and Human Services, has created a humanitarian crisis that has resulted in unsafe, unsanitary conditions and tragic deaths.

It is imperative that this House take decisive action to provide the necessary resources and capabilities to mitigate the humanitarian crisis created by this Administration and provide for the basic human rights of everyone involved.

If Congress and the Administration fail to come to an agreement, the situation at the border will only deteriorate.

Cutting funding to these agencies now will not punish the agencies or the Administration: it will punish the migrants.

Congress has an urgent moral responsibility to protect children and families, and defend the health, dignity and lives of those in need.

Conditions at Customs and Border Protection facilities along the border have been an issue of increasing concern as officials warn that the recent large influx of migrant families has driven many of the facilities well past their capacities.

In May, the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security warned of ``dangerous overcrowding'' among adult migrants housed at the border processing center in El Paso, with up to 900 migrants being held at a facility designed for 125.

In some cases, cells designed for 35 people were holding 155 people.

This shameful episode in American history is capped by the resignation announced today of John Sanders, the Acting Commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection whose tenure at CBP included children being kept at border stations with deplorable conditions, including a facility that one of the independent inspectors, a medical doctor, compared to ``torture facilities.''

This is why it is I strongly support this supplemental funding bill, which provides:

1. $934.5 million for processing facilities, food, water, sanitary items, blankets, medical services, and safe transportation;

2. $866 million to reduce reliance on influx shelters to house children;

3. $200 million for an integrated, multi-agency processing center pilot program for families and unaccompanied children, with participation by non-profit organizations;

4. $100 million for legal services for unaccompanied children, child advocates, and post-release services;

5. $60 million to assist jurisdictions experiencing a significant influx of migrants and non-profit organizations serving those communities;

6. $20 million for Alternatives to Detention;

7. $15 million for the Legal Orientation Program to educate migrants about their rights and legal proceedings; and

8. $9 million to speed up placement of children with sponsors and manage their cases.

In total, Madam Speaker, this legislation provides $4.5 billion in emergency spending to address the humanitarian crisis at the border-- securing robust funding for priorities including legal assistance, food, water, sanitary

items, blankets and medical services, support services for unaccompanied children, and refugee services, which will relieve the horrific situation of over-crowding and help prevent additional deaths.

Equally important, this supplemental protects families and does not fund the Administration's failed mass detention policy.

Instead, the bill smartly provides funding for effective, humane alternatives to detention which has a proven track record of success; places strict limits on influx shelters; protects sponsors from DHS immigration enforcement based on information collected by HHS during the vetting process; and creates strong oversight by Congress.

Madam Speaker, the bill before addresses the roots causes of the crisis by reversing the Administration's senseless decision to block economic assistance that Congress has already appropriated for the Northern Triangle countries.

It is significant that this legislation clarifies the intent of prior year appropriations for Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador which specifically required these governments to take steps to curb migration, improve border security, including preventing human smuggling and trafficking, and trafficking of illicit drugs and other contraband; combat corruption; and support programs to reduce poverty and promote equitable growth, particularly in areas contributing to large number of migrants, among many other conditions.

The bill provides, however, that not less than 75 percent of any funds that cannot be provided to the central governments of such countries due to their failure to meet the certification requirements shall be reprogrammed through nongovernmental organizations or local entities in such countries and that the balance of such reprogramming must be to countries within Latin America and the Caribbean.

Madam Speaker, I am particularly pleased that the Manager's Amendment to this humanitarian emergency supplemental appropriations bill includes a provision that I worked very hard to have included and which requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to submit to the Congress a plan for ensuring access to appropriate translation services for all individuals encountered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

It is simply unconscionable to subject refugee child from Honduras or El Salvador or Guatemala to legal proceedings conducted in a language foreign to him or her without the assistance of a translator conversant in that child's native tongue. Also to be able to translate for new desperate migrants from Africa and other nations.

Another reason to support this legislation is that it contains important oversight provisions to hold the administration accountable and to protect the rights and dignity of migrants, including:

No funding for a border wall or barriers, or for ICE detention beds;

Prohibits the use of funds for any purpose not specifically described;

Places strict conditions on influx shelters to house children by mandating compliance with requirements set forth in the Flores settlement;

Protects sponsors and potential sponsors from DHS immigration enforcement based on information collected by HHS during the sponsor vetting process;

Ensures congressional oversight visits to facilities caring for unaccompanied children without a requirement for prior notice;

Requires monthly reporting on unaccompanied children separated from their families;

Requires additional reporting about the deaths of children in government custody; and

Ensures CBP facilities funded in the bill comply with the National Standards on Transport, Escort, Detention, and Search.

Madam Speaker, since December 2018, six minor children have died in custody after being apprehended by U.S. border agents since December.

We cannot wait any longer to resolve the humanitarian crisis on the southern border exacerbated by this Administration.

That is why I support H.R. 3401, and urge all members to join me in voting to pass this critically needed legislation.