[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 34 (Friday, February 27, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E276]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  SUPPORTING A CLEAN DHS FUNDING BILL

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. YVETTE D. CLARKE

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 27, 2015

  Ms. CLARKE of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise to draw the attention of 
the House on the dangerous position in which my Republican colleagues 
have placed the American people by refusing to fund the Department of 
Homeland Security.
   Republicans in the House of Representatives voted in January to fund 
DHS only if we threaten millions of undocumented parents and children 
with deportation. Unless Republicans stop playing games with our 
national security and vote to fund DHS, the agency will not have the 
ability to maintain critical operations by the end of February.
   We have a responsibility to demonstrate to the people of the United 
States and the leaders of other nations that we are capable of 
supporting national security without concern for politics. The partisan 
interests that have convinced many Republicans to oppose the Obama 
administration on immigration are not in the interest of our nation as 
a whole. The position of the Republicans imposes serious risks on the 
American people. The failure to fund DHS, as President Obama has 
recently reminded us, will impact one hundred forty-three thousand 
Department of Homeland Security workers who are responsible for the 
safety of our families and children. In New York City, DHS resources 
support our police and fire departments to protect the city and the 
millions of visitors from around the world from attacks. Undermining 
the funding of the DHS threatens their safety and the security of our 
communities across the nation. House Republicans should not hold our 
national security hostage to a narrow agenda.
   In the community I represent in Brooklyn, New York, the many first-
generation and second-generation immigrants will suffer irreparable 
harm if we fail to fund the DHS. Who among would want to know the fear 
that a knock on the door in the middle of the night or a citation for a 
minor infraction such as jaywalking could result in permanent 
separation from their children?
   Mr. Speaker, instead of playing games with politics, Republicans 
should focus on avoiding a shutdown of the DHS by enacting a bipartisan 
bill to fund the DHS through the rest of the 2015 fiscal year.

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