[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 22 (Tuesday, February 10, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S906]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY FUNDING

  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, we are in a countdown of sorts right 
now, and it is one I am deeply concerned about. On February 27, the 
funding for the Department of Homeland Security of our country runs 
out, and that is 17 days from now. Only 17 days from now, our Border 
and Customs and air traffic controllers, air security, Coast Guard--all 
of those agencies and all of the people involved in protecting us from 
the terrorist threats all around us--will lose their funding in one way 
or the other if we don't act.
  On Sunday morning in Michigan, we had a reminder of the threat that 
exists within our borders. A man crashed his truck into a U.S. Coast 
Guard station in Grand Haven on the west side of Michigan. Then he 
assaulted members of the Coast Guard, which is, by the way, a 
Department of Homeland Security facility and will be affected by what 
is going to happen. The man claimed to have explosives in his truck. 
Fortunately, that turned out not to be true. Still, local officials 
initially called it ``an act of domestic terrorism.''
  Department of Homeland Security officials have been working alongside 
other Federal agencies and local law enforcement to investigate. My 
colleagues can imagine how people on the west side of Michigan are 
feeling right now and how members of the Coast Guard are feeling about 
this.
  This is the work the men and women of the Department of Homeland 
Security do every day in every part of Michigan, in every part of our 
country, in every part of our cities, including the District of 
Columbia, and in the communities we all represent. Frankly, people are 
scratching their heads right now about what in the world is going on.
  I appreciate the fact there are disagreements with the President 
regarding immigration policy. Certainly, we can debate that. We can 
discuss it. The Republican leader can bring up the issue of immigration 
at any time on the floor of the Senate. But that should not be tied to 
whether we fund the Department of Homeland Security for our country. 
Homeland security funding should not be held hostage to what I view as 
the politics of the moment on immigration. We may have a disagreement 
in terms of immigration issues, but we should not have any disagreement 
about the need to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security.
  We rely on the Department of Homeland Security to provide our 
transportation security at shipping ports and at all of our airports. 
We all go back and forth every single week. Millions of Americans are 
counting on the fact that people at our airports--people we see and 
people we don't see--are keeping us safe from attacks--the passengers, 
the cargo.
  Michigan is a border State. We are the largest northern border 
crossing in the country for goods, services, and people coming back and 
forth from Detroit to Windsor. It is the men and women of the 
Department of Homeland Security--Border and Customs--who are keeping 
our borders safe every day.
  We rely on the Department of Homeland Security to protect us against 
nuclear attacks, chemical attacks, and cyber attacks every day. In 
recent years, major American financial institutions have been attacked 
by hackers. I have been in a situation as a customer of a major company 
getting that notice in the mail about my credit card. Millions of 
Americans have been in that situation. We expect that we are going to 
make sure we are protecting people's information, their financial 
security, the financial security of businesses. That is what is done 
through the Department of Homeland Security.
  Seventeen days from now, if we don't act to fully fund the Department 
of Homeland Security, we will see the funding for that Department stop.
  Chinese hackers targeted the U.S. Transportation Department Command, 
which directs the global movement of U.S. military forces. Hackers have 
gone after America's transportation and communications infrastructure 
over and over again.
  This is very serious. This is very serious. This is not about 
politics or differences of opinion with the United States or having 
some leverage by holding funding up in order to get something else that 
group of people wants to get. This is about whether we are going to 
straight-up fund the security operations of our country. We have 
terrorists and terror threats all around us. Look at the globe--all 
around us. This is not the time to play politics with Homeland Security 
funding.
  Last year we passed, with a huge majority, a bipartisan immigration 
bill. Immigration deserves a debate. There will be differences of 
opinion. I still think there is a broad bipartisan coalition to do 
comprehensive reform that makes sense for everyone, makes sense for 
America. But this is not the time to say: It is either my way or the 
highway. Either I get the changes I want or I will say to the President 
of the United States that he is wrong, that he is playing politics, 
whatever it is, and I am going to hold up the security of our country 
in order to do it.
  I think most people in Washington are saying: What in the world is 
going on here? Terror threats are all around us, and we are 17 days 
away from a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. This makes 
absolutely no sense to me. Frankly, we can do better than that as an 
institution, as the U.S. Senate. We can do better in Congress than 
constantly having these roller coasters up and down and threats of 
government shutdowns. We have seen it before. We are now seeing the 
possibility of it again.
  Seventeen days from now, if Homeland Security is shut down, if we 
aren't funding our border, cockpits, airport security, ports, the Coast 
Guard, and all the other things that keep us safe, there is going to be 
a big party. Do you know who is going to throw that party? The enemies 
of America. The terrorists who want very much to have the opportunity 
to attack our country. That makes absolutely no sense.
  Let's come together this week before we leave. We are not in session 
next week. We can get this done. Let's just pass the Homeland Security 
budget and get on with important debates on other topics that we all 
care about. I hope we can do that and get this done as soon as 
possible.
  I yield the floor.

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