[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 46 (Thursday, March 14, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S1910]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           TEXT OF AMENDMENTS

  SA 200. Mr. TOOMEY (for himself and Mr. Alexander) submitted an 
amendment intended to be proposed by him to the joint resolution H.J. 
Res. 46, relating to a national emergency declared by the President on 
February 15, 2019; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
       At the appropriate place, insert the following:

     SEC. __. FINDINGS.

       Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) Fentanyl and fentanyl analogues were responsible for 
     more than 28,400 overdose deaths in the United States in 
     2017, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse.
       (2) According to the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. 
     Customs and Border Protection has reported that fentanyl 
     smuggling between ports of entry at the southern border of 
     the United States more than doubled from fiscal year 2017 to 
     fiscal year 2018.
       (3) According to the Department of Homeland Security, in 
     the past 5 years, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has seen 
     a 620 percent increase in families--or those posing as 
     families--apprehended at the border, with fiscal year 2018 
     being the highest on record for family apprehensions at the 
     border.
       (4) The journey to the southern border for women and 
     children traveling from Central America is fraught with 
     incredible danger, including increased risk of violence and 
     sexual abuse from gangs and coyotes.
       (5) The bipartisan Secure Fence Act of 2006 (Public Law 
     109-367; 120 Stat. 2638) was signed into law on October 26, 
     2006, and mandated that the Department of Homeland Security 
     achieve and maintain operational control of the international 
     land border, using physical infrastructure as well as other 
     means, to ensure ``the prevention of all unlawful entries 
     into the United States, including entries by terrorists, 
     other unlawful aliens, instruments of terrorism, narcotics, 
     and other contraband''.
       (6) Over the past 25 years, the United States Government 
     has constructed 654 miles of physical barriers on the 
     southern border.
       (7) The Department of Homeland Security is only seeking to 
     expand the physical barrier on the southern border in 
     operationally necessary locations, not to build a physical 
     barrier for all 1,954 miles of the southern border.
       (8) U.S. Customs and Border Protection has identified 17 
     high priority locations on the southern border where there is 
     a current operational need for physical barriers.
       (9) On January 6, 2019, the President requested that 
     Congress appropriate $5,700,000,000 for the construction of 
     approximately 234 miles of new physical barriers to fully 
     fund the top 10 high priority locations identified by U.S. 
     Customs and Border Protection.
       (10) On February 15, 2019, the Consolidated Appropriations 
     Act, 2019 (Public Law 116-6) was signed into law, providing 
     the Department of Homeland Security with $1,375,000,000 for 
     ``the construction of primary pedestrian fencing, including 
     levee pedestrian fencing, in the Rio Grande Valley Sector''.
       (11) On February 15, 2019, the President announced the 
     Treasury Forfeiture Fund would provide to U.S. Customs and 
     Border Protection $601,000,000 for physical barriers along 
     the southern border under the authority of section 9705 of 
     title 31, United States Code, which established the Fund and 
     allows the Secretary of the Treasury to provide monies from 
     the Fund for use ``in connection with the law enforcement 
     activities of any Federal agency''.
       (12) On February 15, 2019, the President announced that 
     Department of Defense funds would be made available from the 
     Department's Drug Interdiction and Counter-Drug Activities 
     account for physical barriers along the southern border under 
     the authority of section 284 of title 10, United States Code, 
     which authorizes the Secretary of Defense to ``provide 
     support for the counterdrug activities or activities to 
     counter transnational organized crime of any other department 
     or agency of the Federal Government'', including for the 
     ``[c]onstruction of roads and fences and installation of 
     lighting to block drug smuggling corridors across 
     international boundaries of the United States''.
       (13) Section 8005 of division A of the Department of 
     Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education 
     Appropriations Act, 2019 (Public Law 115-245) permits the 
     Secretary of Defense to transfer up to $4,000,000,000 of 
     funds to other accounts, including the Department of 
     Defense's Drug Interdiction and Counter-Drug Activities 
     account, provided that ``such action is necessary in the 
     national interest''.
       (14) The sum of the amounts described in paragraphs (10) 
     through (13) is $5,976,000,000, an amount in excess of the 
     $5,700,000,000 sought by the President for 234 miles of 
     physical barriers along the southern border in the request 
     described in paragraph (9).
       (15) On June 27, 2013, the Senate agreed to the Border 
     Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization 
     Act (S. 744, 113th Congress), which was introduced by Senator 
     Charles E. Schumer (Democrat of New York), and included the 
     following congressional finding: ``As a Nation, we have the 
     right and responsibility to make our borders safe, to 
     establish clear and just rules for seeking citizenship, to 
     control the flow of legal immigration, and to eliminate 
     illegal immigration, which in some cases has become a threat 
     to our national security.''.

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