[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 42 (Thursday, March 5, 2026)]
[House]
[Page H2423]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        WORKING ACROSS THE AISLE

  (Mr. Hoyer of Maryland was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, this has been a historic week in many ways. 
We have significant disagreements in this House. I rose a few days ago 
to say to all the House Members on both sides of the aisle that we 
ought to move on behalf of the American people legislation and policies 
on which we agree and not allow them to be lost or unaddressed because 
of the fact that we have other matters on which we disagree.
  That is a successful strategy for families, for human beings, for 
business, and for life, to not allow the things on which we disagree be 
an impediment to moving us forward on things we can agree on.
  I rise this morning because we are going to have two items about 
which I am greatly concerned on the floor today. Actually, one of them 
will be on the floor and one will not. I am concerned about the one 
that will be, and I am concerned about the one that will not. I want to 
speak briefly about them.
  We will be considering a bill on the floor today that will fund the 
Department of Homeland Security. There is within that bill two items on 
which the parties disagree. There are also within that bill literally a 
score, twoscore, perhaps threescore on which we agree. Those items will 
affect whether or not we pay people who are working for the Federal 
Government and for the American people.
  A number of them are very important items. One is the TSA, the 
Transportation Security Agency, which we all see at airports. As far as 
I can tell, everybody in this House, all 435, believe they ought to be 
paid.
  We will have on the sea surrounding our country and perhaps in other 
places, the Coast Guard patrolling for the sanctity of our borders, for 
the safety of our mariners, and for the safety both of commercial and 
noncommercial vessels.
  There is also an agency within the Department of Homeland Security 
called the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which responds to 
jurisdictions and to people when disasters occur causing great damage 
to communities and to people. As far as I can tell, everybody is for 
funding that agency.
  The Secret Service, particularly at a time of war but at all times, 
has a very difficult job. They are called essential employees. They are 
working now, but they are not being paid. As far as I can tell, 
everybody in the House believes they ought to be paid.
  Now we have a disagreement over the way that the ICE, otherwise known 
as the immigration service, is handling its work, its duties. Some of 
us believe that they are doing things that are outside the boundary of 
the Constitution, the laws of our country and our States, and the norms 
of police activity. It is a significant, important difference of 
opinion that ought to be argued, that ought to be resolved, and we 
resolve things through a vote on this floor.
  The Border Patrol is also involved not at the border but in the 
interior of our country. That is not usual and it has resulted, in the 
opinion of some of us, in the taking of American lives inconsistent 
with the safety of American citizens and inconsistent with the norms of 
police work in America in our counties and in our cities and in our 
States.
  Madam Speaker, in conclusion, I hope that we will vote on a motion to 
recommit which funds all of the Federal employees in question and 
represents honestly to the American people that the customs agency and 
ICE are already funded and were funded at the beginning of this year.

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