[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2103]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            FUNDING FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

  (Mrs. TORRES asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mrs. TORRES. Mr. Speaker, it is irresponsible to hold homeland 
security funds hostage simply because some of my colleagues don't like 
the President's action on immigration. There is a time and place to 
have this debate--and this isn't it.
  I spent my career working in public safety and emergency preparedness 
with the LAPD. Security is in my blood. I know how important it is to 
be able to plan, prepare, and maintain the morale of those on the front 
lines.
  If we let the Department of Homeland Security funding expire, it 
isn't nameless bureaucrats who will be suffering. We will shutter the 
Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, halt R&D work to counter security 
threats, and end FEMA training activities with our local law 
enforcement. That says nothing of the 147,000 Border Patrol, ICE, and 
TSA officers, Active Duty Coast Guard, and Secret Service agents who 
will be forced to work without pay.
  These men and women have our backs. We should have theirs.

                          ____________________