[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 32 (Wednesday, February 25, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H1119-H1120]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  BRING A CLEAN DHS BILL TO THE FLOOR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, today I rise with a question: Should 
America be brought to the brink of her own security and safety? With 
that question, I ask my friends on the other side of the aisle, the 
Republicans and the Speaker, to put on the floor of the House the full 
funding of the Department of Homeland Security.
  Mr. Speaker, I had the privilege of beginning my tenure on this 
committee in the aftermath of the tragedy on 9/11. Some of us who 
served at that time were able to go to the site after 9/11. We were 
able to go soon enough to see some of those who were in the midst of 
recovering, since the first responders of New York refused to leave 
anyone behind.
  It was a devastating and emotional time, but the resilience of that 
time also reflected America's values. I remember very strongly standing 
on the steps of the House, Republicans and Democrats, singing the song 
``God Bless America.''
  What we have come to today is that we are frivolously using these 
political tactics of taking political security over national security 
and rejecting our responsibility of ensuring that the men and women who 
are on the front lines for the security of this Nation can continue 
their jobs.
  First, Mr. Speaker, let me say that there is a court order that has 
temporarily issued an injunction. That court in Texas did not in any 
way assess the constitutionality of the President's executive actions. 
Why? Because he has the authority. His comments that have been repeated 
over and over again about his lack of authority were, yes, he does not 
have the authority to convey an immigration status. His executive 
actions are not on immigration status. They are simply keeping families 
from being torn apart and mothers and fathers and children from being 
deported. It is not an immigration status. It is a stay of deportation.
  And so the fuss that is being made impacts the TSA officer tragically 
shot in a Los Angeles airport, or New York or Houston or Dallas or 
Chicago or Raleigh-Durham; that TSA officer who stands on the front 
lines of our security and we look them in the eye and tell them they 
cannot be paid. You know, Mr. Speaker, when the shutdown happened 
before, it was Democrats who had to retroactively ensure that those 
workers were paid.
  We want border security? We won't be paying our Border Patrol agents 
or ICE agents. Even though it is suggested that fees will take care of 
it, there are 30,000 employees that the fees will not take care of.
  So I rise today pleading to have my friends acknowledge that, first 
of all, they are wrong on the executive actions. As we go to a hearing 
in Judiciary, I will be able to show that these individuals will 
probably be vetted more extensively than many others in the immigration 
process. Fourteen provisions have to be utilized before they can be 
eligible for the executive action the President has suggested.
  But what I am going to say, Mr. Speaker, as I started by saying, is 
that we are bringing America to the brink. In the midst of my comments, 
I indicated that I remember how we came together in the tragedy of 9/
11. Well, we have a tragedy right now. We have a raging ISIS and ISIL, 
we have an unknown terrorist threat, and we know that the United 
States, although strong, stands, as the rest of the world does, needing 
to be prepared for those who want to be individualized, franchised 
terrorists.
  I take my responsibility seriously. I believe in the Constitution. I 
even believe in language that indicates, as we say often in the 
Declaration of Independence, that we all are created equal, and 
language in the Constitution that says we have come to form a more 
perfect Union.
  This is not perfect, and this can be remedied. I ask the Speaker to 
put this bill on the floor of the House in the name of firefighters and 
police officers and ICE officers and grants going to cities for using 
their best tactics; fusion centers that deal with terrorism--in their 
name, and many others, like Border Patrol; ICE, as I indicated; the 
Secret Service, as I indicated; TSA agents; parts of FAA; and FEMA, 
when the North is freezing and needs that kind of assistance.

[[Page H1120]]

  In the name of the people of the United States of America, how much 
pleading do I need to do? As a member of the Homeland Security 
Committee believing in those innocent families who have come here to do 
nothing more than to work on behalf of their families and desire to be 
united, on behalf of the mothers and fathers, Mr. Speaker, I ask that 
the Speaker put on the floor of the House a clean DHS bill so that we 
can vote now, now, now.

                          ____________________