[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 656]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    DON'T PICK POLITICS OVER COUNTRY

  (Ms. SEWELL of Alabama asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise in support of our 
Nation's continued safety and national security. Recent world events 
vividly remind us of the importance of supporting and maintaining a 
strong and robust homeland security policy.
  Today, we are going to vote on H.R. 240, the Department of Homeland 
Security Appropriations Act, and it provides for critical, important 
funding to the Department, including vital support for essential law 
enforcement activities and programs.
  I had hoped that my Republican colleagues would bring this bill, a 
clean bill, to the floor; instead, we have more politics as usual. A 
bill that would actually be signed into law by the President is what 
this country needs; however, what we have is not that case today.
  It is unfortunate and extremely upsetting that the Republicans are 
now threatening to shut down the Department of Homeland Security, 
endangering the security of our entire country and appeasing the most 
extreme anti-immigration reform fringes of their party.
  This is simply politics over country and should not be a part of the 
debate surrounding our critically important appropriations bills for 
Homeland Security.
  The five amendments that the Republicans plan to attach to the 
bipartisan Homeland Security bill represent some of the most extreme 
anti-immigration legislation.
  I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to reject these 
amendments, reject this partisan gamesmanship that threatens our 
national security, and call on the majority to vote on and pass the 
original version of H.R. 240.

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