[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 2100-2101]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          END THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY IMPASSE NOW

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Hawaii (Mr. Takai) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. TAKAI. Aloha, Mr. Speaker.
  On February 27, the Department of Homeland Security will run out of 
money--17 more days. If this is not resolved, at best case, 
approximately 200,000 workers will stay on the job without pay or be 
furloughed or, at worst, not work.
  Mr. Speaker, I was elected to Congress and came here promising my 
constituents no more government shutdowns, no more Federal furloughs, 
and no more sequestration; yet here we are, on the verge of letting 
funding for Homeland Security run out and partially shutting down 
government. This impasse needs to end, and it needs to end now.
  I say the bottom line--to paraphrase DHS Secretary Johnson's point--
is security for our Nation is not free. Our homeland security cannot be 
hijacked by political games. We must get past this political stalemate 
and work out a clean bill for funding Homeland Security.
  If we don't, significant portions of the Department of Homeland 
Security could be crippled, and hundreds of thousands of critical 
Federal personnel--our constituents--could be affected.
  Let's remember that we are talking about some of the most critical 
security personnel who are working to keep Americans safe--shuttering 
the DHS Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, which would no longer alert 
and coordinate with local law enforcement agencies, and withholding the 
Securing the Cities grants that pay for critical nuclear detection 
capacities in cities across the country; halting research and 
development work on countermeasures to devastating biological

[[Page 2101]]

threats, on nuclear detection equipment, and on cargo and passenger 
screening technologies; crippling FEMA's preparations for future 
disasters, furloughing nearly 22 percent of FEMA personnel; and ending 
FEMA's training activities with local law enforcement for weapons of 
mass destruction events.
  Although some DHS employees would continue to work in the event of a 
shutdown, they would be forced to work without pay, creating a 
significant distraction and dealing a direct blow to morale.
  Among those who would be affected and expected to protect Americans 
without getting paid would be more than 40,000 Border Patrol agents and 
Customs and Border Protection agents; more than 50,000 TSA aviation 
security screeners; more than 13,000 Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement law enforcement agents and officers; more than 40,000 
Active-Duty Coast Guard military members; and more than 4,000 Secret 
Service law enforcement agents and officers.
  Holding hostage funding of DHS for the purpose of overturning the 
President's executive actions on immigration is wrong. President Obama 
was forced to take action because of the inaction of this House to 
consider a bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform bill that the 
Senate passed last year. Here we are again, yet with more inaction.
  We cannot waste any more time here with political bickering, and it 
is not fair to try to hijack Homeland Security funding with an anti-
immigration agenda. The security of our Nation and our people hang in 
the balance.
  Again, no more government shutdowns, no more Federal furloughs, no 
more sequestration--let's get to work, come together, answer the call 
of our constituents, and just pass a clean bill for DHS funding.

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