[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 28 (Tuesday, February 10, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S540-S542]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2026--Motion to
Proceed
Working Families Tax Cuts Act
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, tax filing season is no one's favorite
season, but thanks to the working families tax cuts, things are looking
up this year. Americans filing their taxes are looking at a host of new
tax relief.
Taxpayers can take advantage of this relief for the 2025 tax year,
which means a lot of Americans are going to be seeing bigger refunds
this spring. That starts with the newly enhanced child tax credit. Back
in 2017, Republicans doubled the child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000
per child. With the working families tax cuts, we made that relief
permanent and not just permanent, we boosted the tax credit again by
hundreds of dollars, and we linked it to inflation so its value will
never go down. Parents filing their taxes this year can take advantage
of this additional relief.
Then there is the new tax relief for older Americans--$6,000 bonus
deduction for low- and middle-income seniors. Seniors will be able to
save hundreds and, in some cases, even more on their taxes. Again, that
applies to the 2025 tax year as well, which means seniors will start
seeing that relief this spring.
Tax filers of all ages will be taking advantage of the enhanced
standard deduction this year.
Back in 2017, Republicans nearly doubled the standard deduction,
which is claimed by 90 percent of taxpayers in this country, and with
the Working Families Tax Cuts, we boosted that deduction still further.
Once again, the effects of that will be showing up in Americans' tax
refunds this spring.
And the good news doesn't end there.
I said that parents will be able to take advantage of the enhanced
child tax credit this season. They will also have the opportunity to
open up new investment accounts for their children and to opt in to an
initial, free $1,000 contribution from the Federal Government for
newborn accounts. These accounts will provide another tax advantage
option for parents to invest in
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their children's futures. Again, these accounts can be opened during
this tax filing season. The money can be used, after the child turns
18, for their education, to start a business, to buy their first home--
in short, to give them a head start on their American dream.
And then there is no tax on tips or overtime. That is right. Starting
when they file their taxes this season, Americans who receive tips--
from waitresses and bartenders to Uber and Lyft drivers--will be able
to deduct those tips on their taxes. The same goes for overtime.
Americans who spend long hours working overtime, like nurses,
firefighters, and paramedics, will be able to deduct their overtime
when they file their tax returns, and that means lower tax bills and
more money in their pockets.
We call it the Working Families Tax Cuts for a reason. We set out to
make life better for hard-working Americans--for the moms and the dads
who are struggling to fit dentist visits and car repairs and Little
League and ballet lessons into the budget, for the Americans relying on
tips to make ends meet and the dedicated healthcare and emergency
workers who work overtime to help their fellow Americans, for the
lower- and middle-income seniors pursuing a hard-earned retirement. It
is for every American who has struggled thanks to the inflation crisis
that President Biden and Democrats helped to create.
To all of those Americans, I would just like to say: Relief is on the
way, and it starts this tax season.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Government Funding
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I just heard the minority leader come to
the floor and speak about his ballooning list of demands--demands that
are designed to protect illegal immigrant criminals. That is what this
is about. This is the discussion right now on the floor of the U.S.
Senate. Democrats have come up with a Christmas list of demands--
demands designed to appeal to their radical base.
This growing list of Democrat demands makes it almost impossible to
remove dangerous illegal immigrants from the streets of our Nation.
Democrats are resisting even the most reasonable attempts to enforce
our immigration laws. They don't want us--law enforcement--to enforce
the immigration laws of this Nation. That is what they are for: getting
rid of those laws.
The more we learn about the demands coming from the minority leader
and that party, the less the normal American citizen likes them, and
that is especially if you are concerned about any safety or any
security in the community in which you live or the neighborhood or the
streets of your community. The Democrats continually want to make it
harder to arrest and remove illegal immigrant criminals.
So last week, I spoke about the one Democrat dangerous demand for
requiring something called judicial warrants. Now, that may sound like
a technical change. It is not. It is a dramatic change, and it would
grind immigration enforcement to a halt.
Do you know what it would do? It would lock in place the chaos that
Joe Biden and the Democrats hoisted upon this country with their wide-
open border policy.
The Democrats' preference is to release illegal immigrants who are
criminals right onto our streets. They prefer that over holding them
until immigration officials can come to pick them up, if they have been
arrested.
So I am going to take a look at one of the specific demands that the
Democrats have come up with--and it is a new demand; I haven't seen
this one before--because they want to ban immigration enforcement from
their so-called sensitive locations. The so-called sensitive locations
defined by the Democrats, in the past, have included places of worship,
hospitals, and schools. Now, they want to include in that list polling
places.
Well, let's think about that. It is an entirely new provision.
Polling places have never been included on any list like this before,
and Democrats are now including them because they want to turn America
into a sanctuary country and polling places into sanctuary locations.
That is what the Democrats are demanding.
So let me ask Democrats a simple question: Why do you want to protect
illegal immigrant criminals at polling places? What are they doing at
polling places?
They shouldn't be at U.S. polling places. Why in the world would they
be there if they are not trying to vote? And, by law, they are not
allowed to vote.
That tells you how far to the left the Democrats have moved. Illegal
immigrants aren't allowed to vote in Federal elections. Sometimes
Democrats will say that, but it is not what they want.
Democrats seem fixated on protecting illegal immigrant criminals at
polling places. Yet Democrats energetically opposed commonsense
policies to protect the integrity of the ballot--the integrity of the
ballot. It is a vital right of American citizenship--the sanctity of
the ballot.
Democrats opposed photo IDs to vote. You need one to check out a book
from the library. You need one to get on a plane. You need one to buy a
beer. But the Democrats don't want you to have to produce a photo ID to
vote, which is a sacred right of citizenship. That is because Democrats
oppose election integrity. They oppose ensuring American elections are
dedicated and decided only by American citizens. They don't want that.
They believe it disadvantages them to have just citizens vote, and they
support banning immigration enforcement at polling places. It is
astonishing. That is how far to the left the socialist-driven Democrat
Party has moved.
Illegal immigrants shouldn't be at polling places--illegal immigrant
criminals--and they shouldn't be roaming our communities. They need to
be arrested and removed from the country.
Once again, Democrats are putting illegal immigrants ahead--who are
criminals--ahead of the safety and security of the American people.
Taken together, the list of Democrat demands points in one dangerous
direction, and that is the direction of abolishing ICE, abolishing our
borders, and turning America into a sanctuary nation. Republicans will
not accept changes that make our communities less safe.
The deadline the Democrats have demanded to fund the Department of
Homeland Security is Friday, 3 days from now. The Department of
Homeland Security budget is $90 billion. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement is 11 percent of that. Democrats are risking America's
safety over 11 percent of the Department of Homeland Security budget.
The rest of the budget goes to other critical functions the American
people depend upon and need right now, and that is because it funds
FEMA, or the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for disaster relief,
as our Nation is trying to still deal with the effects of a recent
storm. It funds TSA to help keep Americans safe when they fly. It funds
the Coast Guard to stop the flow of drugs and what has been coming
across to our shores from foreign countries. It funds the Cybersecurity
and Infrastructure Security Agency to protect our Nation from cyber
attacks and more.
So, this week, Senate Democrats have a choice to make:
Option 1, fund the Department of Homeland Security.
Option 2, Democrats can once again side with the radical left and
force a shutdown of the vital services to the American people. And why
do they want to do that? To protect illegal immigrant criminals.
If Democrats choose option 2, it will force a shutdown to protect
illegal immigrants. The consequences to the American people will be
painful. The Democrats have been choosing that side again and again--
safety and prosperity for the Republican choice; illegal immigrant
criminals, the Democrat choice on the floor of the U.S. Senate.
The Democrats seem to be very willing to delay disaster relief, to
disrupt air travel for every American, and to degrade anti-drug
operations. And our Nation will be more vulnerable to cyber attacks.
[[Page S542]]
All of these key missions are conducted by the Department of Homeland
Security, the one branch of government that has not yet been funded. We
have done 11 of the 12 appropriations bills. We have funded 96 percent
of the government. And the Democrats said: Nope, we are not going to
fund that vital function of the government--because that is the demand
of the radical left.
Republicans are ready to vote to keep America safe, and we have been
ready for weeks. To the point, weeks ago, the House of Representatives
passed a bipartisan appropriations bill to fund the Department of
Homeland Security. Senate Democrats had agreed to what was in the bill.
Then the Democrats flip-flopped. And they did it why? Because of the
cries from the radical left, the people that are calling the tune for
that party. Democrats were for it before they were told to be against
it.
Democrats need to start protecting the American people and stop
protecting illegal immigrant criminals. It is that simple. But, today,
Democrats on this floor--we just heard it from the minority leader--
continue to be the party of open borders and illegal immigrants.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mrs. BRITT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sheehy). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mrs. BRITT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we begin the
rollcall vote immediately.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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