[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 69 (Monday, April 20, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1834-S1835]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             RECONCILIATION

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, what does this majority choose to spend 
our time on instead?
  Any hour now, Republicans are expected to release a budget resolution 
that adds tens of billions of dollars to the national debt and pumps 
colossal sums into ICE and Border Patrol without any reforms, all while 
doing absolutely nothing to lower costs for hard-working Americans.
  We need to pause and examine how we got to this moment, because in a 
well-functioning Congress, the majority focuses on solving people's 
problems, not constantly cleaning up their own messes and shoveling 
tens of billions more into unaccountable rogue Agencies.
  Remember, last year, in Donald Trump's ``Big Ugly Betrayal,'' 
Republicans rammed through $75 billion for ICE and tens of billions 
more for Border Patrol, with virtually no guardrails, minimal training 
standards, and no real idea of what they were unleashing. Well, that 
led to disaster, as could have been predicted.
  In January, Federal immigration officers in Minneapolis murdered two 
American citizens in broad daylight, triggering a reckoning across the 
country. After the murders of Alex Pretti

[[Page S1835]]

and Renee Good, the American people wanted change.
  Democrats told our Republican colleagues we needed to work together 
to rein in ICE and Border Patrol and prevent this kind of violence from 
happening again. We put forth commonsense reforms modeled on guardrails 
law enforcement already follows in the States: no masked agents in 
unmarked vehicles, no bursting into people's homes without warrants, 
and body cameras for all agents.
  But after weeks of back and forth, it became painfully obvious that 
Republicans were not serious about reform. Instead of listening to the 
people, Senate Republicans listened to Donald Trump and Stephen Miller. 
Even when Democrats offered to narrow the reforms to a small, targeted 
set of proposals in exchange for funding, Republicans, afraid of Trump, 
afraid of Miller, said no.
  Leader Thune eventually brought a bill to the floor that would fund 
the rest of the Department of Homeland Security, while leaving ICE and 
Border Patrol aside, as negotiations on reform continued. Democrats 
unanimously supported this bill. It was something we had been pushing 
for weeks because we believed FEMA, the Coast Guard, CISA, TSA, and the 
other four Agencies of DHS must be able to serve the American people.

  But that agreement is now collecting dust in the House. Speaker 
Johnson and House Republicans refuse to move it.
  And that brings us to where we are today. It is Republicans who have 
chosen to keep FEMA, the Coast Guard, CISA, TSA, and all other DHS 
Agencies shut down. It is Republicans' own divisions and their own 
inability to govern that have led to the longest shutdown of an Agency 
in American history.
  Even now, instead of working with Democrats, Republicans want to 
waste even more time by going it alone through reconciliation. Any 
moment now, they are expected to release a budget resolution that would 
tee up more than $75 billion over 3 years for ICE and Border Patrol 
through reconciliation, while doing nothing--absolutely nothing--to 
lower costs for hard-working Americans.
  Let's be clear. What the Republicans are doing is not how a well-
functioning Congress should be spending its time. We should be debating 
legislation to help people pay for groceries, afford the rent, and 
bring down electric bills. We should be focused on outrageous gas 
prices and on retiring Donald Trump's costly military endeavors. 
Instead, Republicans are preparing to spend precious time bogging the 
Senate down by partisan bickering.
  And at a moment when President Trump claims we cannot afford Medicare 
or daycare, Republicans somehow think that we can give ICE and Border 
Patrol a blank check. Isn't that amazing? People are suffering because 
they can't pay for their healthcare needs, and, instead, the 
Republicans want to send more money to ICE and Border Patrol.
  One thing is clear--one thing is very clear: Americans cannot afford 
the cost of Republicans' continued chaos.

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