[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 86 (Wednesday, May 20, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2383-S2384]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           GOVERNMENT FUNDING

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, yesterday on the floor I discussed some of 
our accomplishments here in the Senate, and one of those 
accomplishments is restoring regular order consideration of 
appropriation bills.
  Unfortunately, in fiscal year 2025, we were forced do a full-year CR 
after the failures of the previous Democrat majority and the Biden 
administration to enact full-year bills in a timely manner.
  But at the start of this year, we were on the verge of concluding an 
open, Member-driven, and bipartisan appropriations process and passing 
the full compliment of 12 full-year appropriations bills. It is what I 
said I wanted to do when Republicans took the majority last year, and 
we were about to get it done--that is, until Democrats reneged on our 
bipartisan DHS funding bill. A bill, I might add, that included 
bipartisan reforms and money for additional body cameras for 
immigration enforcement. When they backed out of this deal, Democrats 
said they just needed two more weeks to negotiate additional reforms on 
immigration enforcement. Republicans were willing to do that, and we 
began negotiations.
  But then that 2-week deadline came and went without much progress. 
And pretty soon it drug on into 40, 41, 42, 43--45 days. Instead of 
agreeing to fund the Department of Homeland Security while negotiations 
continued, Democrats shut the department down.
  Meanwhile, the White House implemented reforms of its own. As 
negotiations continued, the White House repeatedly offered Democrats a 
robust package of legislative reforms. But as the weeks dragged on, it 
became clear the Democrats weren't interested in reforms at all. And, 
eventually, they just walked away.
  Now why would they do that? If reforming immigration enforcement is 
as important as Democrats were claiming, why would Democrats choose to 
walk away from reforms? I suspect it is either that the reforms that 
the Trump administration implemented were adequate to solve the problem 
at hand or--and I think this is the real reason--Democrats weren't 
interested in reforms at all. They wanted a political issue, something 
that would please the far left.
  And apparently they decided that defunding law enforcement would be a 
winner for them because that is what we are talking about here. 
Democrats voted to defund border security. They voted to defund 
immigration enforcement--not reform, defund, and defund completely. It 
is really quite shameful.
  A few weeks ago on the floor, the Democrat leader said that ICE and 
Border Patrol are two agencies that ``nobody respects in this 
country.'' Nobody

[[Page S2384]]

respects Border Patrol and ICE; those are the Democrat leader's words.
  Apparently, the fact that there are men and women risking their lives 
against drug cartels and gang members doesn't merit respect from 
Democrats. Not only that, but Democrats apparently don't think we 
should have these Agencies that go after criminals, stop illegal drugs 
from entering our country, fight human trafficking, and enforce our 
Nation's immigration laws.
  And that last one is, I think, the real issue here. Do Democrats 
believe we should enforce our immigration laws? It really seems like 
they don't.
  For years now, Democrat-led cities and States have implemented 
sanctuary policies to prevent their law enforcement agencies from 
cooperating with immigration authorities. Those policies have had 
deadly consequences. The murder of Laken Riley is just one example. Yet 
Democrats still defend these misguided policies.
  Then, under President Biden, Democrats' embrace of open border 
policies reached its zenith. The Biden administration clearly did not 
believe in enforcing our immigration laws, and the result was year upon 
year of recordbreaking illegal immigration. As even the New York Times 
has reported:

       After Mr. Biden became president, migrant encounters at the 
     southern border quickly doubled, then kept rising. New 
     arrivals overwhelmed border stations, then border towns, and 
     eventually major cities like New York and Denver.

  Still Democrats embrace open borders. And make no mistake, that is 
exactly what Democrats are embracing when they opt for giving no 
funding--zero funding--to Border Patrol and ICE. What they are 
suggesting is that we have no physical presence at our borders. They 
are suggesting that we don't have law enforcement officers taking 
criminal illegal immigrants off of our streets.
  And I really have to wonder who they are doing this for because 
letting illegal immigrants enter our country unchecked and allowing 
criminal illegal immigrants to roam free is certainly not putting the 
American people first.
  Democrats have made their choice. They would rather have applause 
from the far-left ``defund the police'' crowd than keep the American 
people safe. They would rather have a political issue this November 
than do their jobs.
  As I say, they have made their choice. Fortunately, Republicans can 
fund these critical Agencies without Democrats' assistance. And we will 
be moving forward with the final steps of that process shortly.
  As I said at the top of my remarks, I wanted to restore regular 
order, bipartisan consideration of funding bills, and we were doing 
that. And despite Democrats' partisan games, we are still going to get 
the entire Federal Government funded. We are going to ensure our 
immigration laws are enforced and criminal illegal aliens are not 
allowed to live freely in our country.
  And if Democrats want to play partisan games and vote against border 
security, well, they are free to do that. But Republicans are going to 
do our jobs and ensure that law enforcement can do theirs.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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