[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 18 (Tuesday, February 3, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S732]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY FUNDING

  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, it is no secret we are living in 
dangerous times and that we face a variety of threats. We face the 
threat of ISIL, a barbaric and despicable terrorist organization. We 
face threats to the security of our personal information both online 
and in our daily life. We still face threats from Al Qaeda and rogue 
nations such as North Korea. With all of these ongoing threats to our 
Nation and its citizens, shouldn't our colleagues on the other side of 
the aisle want to work together in a bipartisan manner in order to fund 
the government agency responsible for protecting us from those threats?
  Evidently they do not. Instead, they are playing a partisan game 
while threatening to shut down the Department of Homeland Security. 
They are playing politics with our homeland security. The vote the 
Senate just took relates to a bill that put partisan politics ahead of 
our national security while also needlessly creating another 
manufactured budget crisis, and that is why I voted no.
  I understand our Republican colleagues have concerns about the 
President's Executive actions on immigration, and I believe there is a 
time and place for this body to debate those issues, as we have in the 
past and we must in the future. But to jeopardize our Nation's security 
by playing politics with this vital funding measure is extremely 
disappointing.
  I would actually like to remind our colleagues that the President's 
actions on immigration reform devote even more resources to securing 
our Southwest border and to deporting felons, not families, and 
identifying threats to our national security.
  The President's Executive action on immigration also provides certain 
undocumented immigrants temporary relief, after background checks and 
other security measures are passed, bringing families out of the 
shadows so they can work and pay taxes like everyone else.
  I remain committed to finishing the job on bipartisan and 
comprehensive immigration reform here in Congress, but until we can 
achieve that goal, I support the President keeping his promise to take 
action and do what he legally can to fix our broken system.
  Consistent with the actions by previous Presidents of both parties, 
President Obama is right to follow in the footsteps of every President 
since Eisenhower to address as much of this problem as he can through 
Executive action. The status quo is simply unacceptable.
  In fact, the Congressional Budget Office--also known as the 
nonpartisan scorekeeper--recently found that including a reversal of 
these Executive orders in the homeland security funding bill would 
actually increase our deficit.
  Instead of attaching these transparent attacks on the President, the 
Congress should pass a clean, straightforward, bipartisan bill. And 
there is such a bill. That bill was previously negotiated and it was 
just introduced by the vice chairwoman of the Committee on 
Appropriations, Barbara Mikulski, and the ranking member of the 
Subcommittee on Homeland Security, Senator Shaheen.
  As a new member of the Subcommittee on Homeland Security of the 
Committee on Appropriations, I am a strong supporter of the Mikulski-
Shaheen bill because it would fund programs that are critical to our 
Nation and to my home State of Wisconsin. Their straightforward funding 
bill funds essential Departments such as the Coast Guard, which keeps 
the Great Lakes safe and open for business; and it funds FEMA grants, 
which have helped communities in western Wisconsin, for example, plan 
and prepare for floods; and it funds fire grants that help rural fire 
departments with equipment they could never afford through the proceeds 
of annual pancake breakfasts. These are critical assets that my 
constituents rely on, and putting them at risk is simply irresponsible.
  It is time for our colleagues to drop this dangerous political stunt 
and to join with Democrats to pass a bipartisan bill that gives the 
Department of Homeland Security the resources it needs to keep 
Americans safe.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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