Department Of Homeland Security Funding
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I may speak for 15 minutes. Mr. President, before the Senator from Illinois leaves the floor, I just want to thank him for his amazing leadership on this whole issue of immigration. The Senator…
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I may speak for 15 minutes.
Mr. President, before the Senator from Illinois leaves the floor, I just want to thank him for his amazing leadership on this whole issue of immigration.
The Senator and I share a similar background because my mother also was an immigrant, and the thought of our moms being ripped out of our lives is just untenable. We are not going to let it happen.
I wish to thank him so much because he has been, I would say, the grandfather of the whole DREAMer movement. So thank you, Senator.
We all know Republicans won in huge numbers in the 2014 election and they took over the Senate and they run it. They run it--or at least they are trying to run it.
Let's be clear. Less than 8 weeks after they took over the Senate we are facing a shutdown, a shutdown of the very agency that protects the health, the safety, the lives of the American people--the Department of Homeland Security.
We are 4 days away, and even if they come up with a continuing resolution, a small little patch, they are shutting down the programs that fund our firefighters and our first responders back home. So any way we look at it, this is a national disgrace.
Think about what our friends abroad and those who are not our friends are thinking about this. Republicans say we are in danger. We have to go to war, put combat troops on the ground. But they are willing to shut down the Department that protects Americans in the homeland from a terrorist attack.
This is a self-inflicted crisis made up by the Republicans. It is dangerous. It is the height of irresponsibility and it is unnecessary.
Let me tell you, how does it make sense in the very same week that terrorists are threatening our shopping malls that we would shut down the very agency charged with protecting those malls?
How does it make sense at a time when we are facing serious threats to our national security to furlough 30,000 Department of Homeland Security workers and to force more than 100,000 frontline Homeland Security personnel to work without pay? Why don't these Senators go without their pay? Give up your pay. Do you want to come to work every day and stand there and look for threats to our homeland and worry about how you are going to pay the bills for your kids? Go without pay before you do this. You tell me how that makes sense not to pay people who are in charge of our security. It is a disgrace.
Give up your pay--give up your pay, give up your health care, give up your benefits, if this is so important to you.
Oh, no. They will collect their pay. Tell me, how does it make sense to shut off the grants that protect our cities, our ports from terrorist attacks, and how does it make sense to stop local communities from being able to hire police officers and firefighters?
The Department of Homeland Security is very large. When it was created I was troubled by that because it includes so many important things in one department, including FEMA. So when we have a natural disaster such as an earthquake, fire or flood, that is the Department that deals with it. How does it make sense to disrupt disaster recovery operations such as the efforts in California to recover from our devastating Napa Earthquake and the Rim Fire in Yosemite?
So not only are they disrupting Homeland Security and the protections of our perhaps most-targeted places in America, but they are disrupting recovery from natural disasters, and God forbid if we have another one. And the reason they are throwing a hissy fit is because the President stepped in and has a policy to take care of immigration. Why did the President step in? Because Republicans refused to take up a bipartisan bill, pass it, and take care of the immigration problem the way they are supposed to. They are paralyzed on that point. They cannot do it.
We had a bill that garnered 68 votes in the last Congress. All they have to do is bring it up, pass it here, and then pass it in the House. It will pass with overwhelming majorities. The President will sign it, and that would make his Executive order unnecessary. The only reason he issued an Executive order is that we are facing a crisis in this country. There are 11 million undocumented folks. Some of those undocumented folks are DREAMers. To me, that is the most important category. They are young people who were brought here when they were children. They know no other home. All they want to do is stay here and give back to America. Republicans want to deport them and their parents. They want to deport the parents of American citizens. I thank God these people were not in charge of Congress when I was growing up or else they might have deported my mother. It took her awhile to get through her naturalization. What if they passed something such as what the Republicans are proposing?
I thought they were the party of family values. Show me where that is true--ripping families apart. I thought they were the party of economic prosperity. Show me how that is true when we know from study after study that one of the greatest things we can do for our economy and job creation is to get people out of the shadows so they can go and buy a home and hold a good job. They can't or won't pass an immigration bill. They will not do their job.
So when the President steps in and does his job, they say: Oh, this is terrible. Let's shut down a totally unrelated department, the Department of Homeland Security.
Again I say, let's look at fiscal responsibility. According to the Center for American Progress, it would cost more than $50 billion to deport the entire population that the President is protecting. And here is the deal: I never heard a Republican--and I will stand corrected if any Republican corrects me--complain when President Eisenhower used his Executive power to help immigrants or when President Nixon did the same thing to protect immigrants or when President Ronald Reagan, their hero, protected immigrants or when George Bush, Sr., protected immigrants or when George W. Bush protected immigrants. They all used their authority. Show me one Republican who stood up and said: This is outrageous. Let's impeach the President. But they are annoyed because it is President Obama, and he won twice. Sorry. Wake up and smell the roses. He is the President, and he is doing the right thing for America because he loves America and he understands that these people, who the Republicans want to deport, are going to help America move on to an era of greatness and keep us going.
Let's look at some of the young people Republicans want to deport. Alexis Bux is a 21-year-old student from central California. He is the oldest of three siblings. His younger two siblings were born in the United States, but he was not. So these great family-value Republicans want to rip away the oldest child from this family. His parents were farm workers in the fields of San Joaquin Valley. Alexis received immigration relief under DACA in 2012, and he will transfer to UC San Diego this fall where he will pursue his dream of a career in biomedical engineering.
Tell me, Republicans, how our country is better off when you deport a young man such as him. He hopes to use his education to develop a sophisticated medical application and tools that will help cure deadly diseases. All he wants to do is contribute to the Nation he loves.
If the Republicans had their way, they would deport people such as Ana Albarran, who left Mexico at age 8. She came to this country with her younger
brother and sister to join her parents. Her parents worked 11 hours a day as trimmers for a landscaping company in downtown Los Angeles.
After Ana received immigration relief, she felt confident enough to begin applying for jobs, and now she is finishing her final year at UC Merced so she can begin her career as a bilingual first grade teacher.
Tell me, Republicans, how does it make sense to deport people such as Ana and split her up from her parents when all they want to do is contribute to the country they love? How does it make sense just because you are too incompetent to hold a vote on your immigration plan? If you want to kick people out of the country, put it to a vote. Let's go. If you want to deport 11 million people, then put it to a vote. Don't hide behind the Homeland Security bill and hold the President's work hostage. You never did it to the other Presidents. Don't do it to this President. How does it make sense to deport these moms, these dads, and these young kids?
I mentioned before that I am the daughter of an immigrant mother. I tried to think of what my life would have been like without my mother. She gave me my conscience. She gave me my values. She gave me all the love and support I needed to pursue my dreams. I am the daughter of an immigrant mother who never graduated from high school. I am a Senator in the U.S. Senate. But they would have deported my mother. I would not be here today if it were not for my mom. So tell me how it makes sense to deport moms and dads and rip apart the lives of children.
Our national security is at stake, our family values are at stake, and our economy is at stake here. So get over the fact that you don't like the President. We get it. You couldn't beat him. It is too bad for you. You are in charge here in the Senate. Do your job. Bring an immigration bill to the floor. Let's let this Homeland Security bill go. It is a bipartisan bill. It is funding for the most important issue we are dealing with today. Let's get to it. Don't hold it hostage because of your hatred of this President--and I use that word because that is what I think. That is what I think.
In California alone, the President's Executive actions could boost California's economy by as much as $27.5 billion. The President's action will aid our economy. It will raise the Nation's gross domestic product by up to $90 billion over the next 10 years by expanding the labor force and allowing immigrant workers the flexibility to seek new jobs.
Why is that the case? Why does every independent study show us this is the case? The reason is simple. When workers come out of the shadows, their wages rise, they open bank accounts, buy homes, start businesses, and spend money in their communities.
So I say this to my Republican friends. There is a Presidential race coming up. Forget the last one. Get over it. Let's work together.
Listen, I served with five Presidents. I am a strong Democrat. Everyone will tell you that. But I have respect for the office of the Presidency. If I didn't agree with Ronald Reagan, I came down here and said it. We had respect back and forth. If we lost, we lost, and we moved on. That went both ways.
I know how it feels not to like the policies of a President. I get it. But don't overdo it and make it so personal. Get on with it. Grow up. Do your job. Have respect for the Office of the President. Don't suddenly say Executive orders are bad when the President you don't like does it, but you don't say one word when a Republican President does the same thing. It doesn't pass the smell test.
Three things could not be more important in this battle. We need to fund our Department of Homeland Security--especially when we are facing serious threats to our security. We need to uphold our family values and not split up loving families, and we need to protect and grow our economy.
We can do this in the simplest way. First, I say to House Speaker Boehner--because under the Constitution all funding bills start in the House: Send us a clean bill. Send us the bill that everybody supported before you took it hostage on this immigration issue. Send it over clean. Let's fund everything in that bill to protect our shopping malls, to give grants to our first responders, and to give grants to our local fire departments. Send it over. We will pass it, and immediately following that, we will bring up an immigration bill.
We have it all ready for you. It passed with 68 votes. There is not much work to do. If you do that, the President's Executive order will not be necessary because we will have taken the steps ourselves to fix our broken immigration system.
Let's stop the lawsuits. We have one judge who said there was overreach, but the next judge may say there is no overreach. Let's keep this out of the courts. Let's do our job. Let's stop the self-inflicted crisis. Let's stop the shadow that is hanging over the Nation. Let's do the right thing here.
We can protect the American people from threats to our national security. We can protect and grow our economy, and we can treat hard- working immigrants and their families with the dignity and respect they deserve. It all lies in the hands of Speaker Boehner and Leader McConnell.
When you took over the Senate, you said: no more threats of shutdowns. Eight weeks later--not even 8 weeks--we are facing a shutdown of one of the most important departments. This is a disgrace, and it is self-inflicted. All you have to do is talk to Speaker Boehner. Send over a clean bill so we can vote on it. Then we will take up immigration, and you can show us all your great ideas on immigration.
Let's hear it. Do you want to deport the DREAMers? Come on with it, and we will have a vote. You want to deport the parents? Come on with it, and we will have a vote. You want to kick 11 million people out of this country? Come on with it, and we will have a vote and debate on it. But don't hold the Department of Homeland Security hostage because of this issue.
If there is one thing the American people hate more than anything else, it is attaching unrelated matters to spending bills. I don't care if they are conservative Republicans or liberal Democrats or Independent voters. They think it is the dumbest idea. They really do. They don't understand it.
Pass your funding bills. Then battle your ideological issues separately and apart from that. Don't hold these departments hostage to your decision that President Obama did the wrong thing. If you don't like what he did, put forward your own bill. You have not even done that.
I have been here a long time. I will tell you something. I have never seen anything like this. It is a self-inflicted wound. Who gets hurt? Not the Republicans--they will keep getting their pay. They are fine. The people who will be hurt are those whom we trust and count on and the families that thought they could stay together. They are on the verge of that. That is what this party--the Grand Old Party, the GOP-- have brought to us, but they can get out of it in 5 minutes.
Speaker Boehner can pass a funding bill that will pass in a heartbeat. Send it over here, and we will pass it, turn to immigration, and then we can have it out on that subject. I think it is worthy of a debate. But don't hold an important funding bill hostage to that debate. It is ridiculous, unnecessary, destructive, and cruel.
With that, I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.