[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 33 (Thursday, February 26, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H1177]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              DHS SHUTDOWN

  (Mr. HIMES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, I have the privilege of serving on the House 
Intelligence Committee. And just yesterday, in a hearing entitled 
``Worldwide Threats,'' I sat with the Chiefs of our Intelligence 
Services to learn about those worldwide threats. The meeting was 
classified, but the summary is this: there are people out there who 
would count it a smashing success to reap death and destruction on the 
homeland.
  Yet my Republican friends have engineered a situation where, in 2 
days, the Department of Homeland Security will shut down. It is not 
because they don't have an alternative to get in the way of the 
President's immigration initiative. A judge in Texas ruled with them. 
Now, I think that judge is going to be overturned, but a judge ruled 
with them. Yet they are going to shut down the Department of Homeland 
Security.
  I don't understand that, but I have got two questions:
  If we shut down DHS and, heaven forbid, there is a natural disaster 
that destroys a community in Oklahoma or Connecticut, what are we--what 
are you going to tell the American people?
  If, heaven forbid, one of those people who wishes this Nation ill 
succeeds and the Department of Homeland Security is shut down, what 
will we--what will you tell the American people?

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