[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 22 (Tuesday, February 10, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S878-S879]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY FUNDING

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, for the past week Democrats in the Senate 
have been filibustering a bill to fund the Department of Homeland 
Security for the remainder of the fiscal year. They object to the bill 
because it does not fund President Obama's Executive overreach on 
immigration--despite the fact that the President spent years declaring 
he didn't have the constitutional authority to grant amnesty.

[[Page S879]]

  Quoting what the President told an audience on July 25, 2011:

       Believe me, the idea of doing things on my own is very 
     tempting, I promise you. Not just on immigration reform. But 
     that's not how our system works. That's not how our democracy 
     functions. That is not how our Constitution is written.

  On January 30, 2013, the President stated, ``I am not a king. . . . I 
am required to follow the law.''
  That same day he said:

       If this was an issue I could do unilaterally, I would have 
     done it a long time ago. . . . The way our system works is 
     Congress has to pass legislation. I then get an opportunity 
     to sign it and implement it.

  Well, President Obama was right. The Constitution does not give the 
President authority to make laws. It is Congress's job to make laws, 
and it is the President's job to execute them. Clearly, based on these 
statements, the President knows that. He has reiterated that sentiment 
more than 20 times over the past few years. Yet a few months ago he 
decided to ignore the law and the Constitution in an attempt to make 
immigration law by Executive fiat. How can he possibly justify that?
  Members of his own party were troubled by that decision.
  ``I have to be honest, how this is coming about makes me 
uncomfortable,'' said a colleague from the State of Missouri back in 
November.
  The junior Senator from Indiana said that ``the President shouldn't 
make such significant policy changes on his own.''
  The junior Senator from Minnesota admitted, ``I have concerns about 
executive action.''
  ``I also frankly am concerned about the constitutional separation of 
powers,'' said the Independent Senator from the State of Maine.
  Many Democrats here in the Senate Chamber, as well as an Independent, 
have expressed their reservations and their concerns about how the 
President has proceeded. Democrats are right to be concerned, which 
makes it particularly troubling that Democrats are now trying to shut 
down the Department of Homeland Security to protect the President's 
overreach because, make no mistake, Democrats are refusing to fund the 
Department of Homeland Security unless funding is provided for the 
President's unconstitutional attempt to make his own immigration laws.
  If Democrats don't like this bill, they should vote to debate the 
measure and offer amendments to fix the parts they don't like. 
Republicans are ready and willing to entertain Democrats' amendments. 
In fact, the Republican leader has offered to let Democrats alternate 
amendments with Republicans on a one-to-one basis. An open debate is 
what the Senate is known for on a big issue. If Democrats want to fund 
actions that even they have admitted are troubling, they are welcome to 
offer an amendment to provide that funding. They have that opportunity.
  What we are talking about is the Republican leader, Senator 
McConnell, offering an open process--something that we have talked 
about since we became the majority, something that we were denied in 
the last session of Congress when we were in the minority. We have the 
opportunity to have an open debate, offer amendments, and vote on those 
amendments. That is precisely what majority leader Senator McConnell 
has put forward. He has given Democrats that option.
  Let's put the bill on the floor. We will have a chance to offer 
amendments. If Democrats don't like what is in the bill, they will have 
an opportunity to offer amendments, have that debate, and vote.
  Democrats need to stop their obstruction and move forward on this 
bill. Blocking all funding to the Department of Homeland Security is 
not a responsible solution, especially when the Democrats are blocking 
the bill solely to protect Presidential actions that the President 
himself has admitted are unconstitutional and outside the scope of his 
authority.
  We can end all this gridlock that is existing right now on the Senate 
floor simply by the Democrats allowing us to get on this bill and end 
the filibuster. Give us an opportunity to debate and offer amendments. 
Let's have that debate--a debate that is clearly important to a lot of 
people across this country and certainly a lot of people here in the 
Chamber of the Senate. We are going to be denied that opportunity if 
the current filibuster and current blocking of even getting on that 
legislation continues by the Democrats.

                          ____________________