[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2398]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             LET'S FUND DHS

  (Ms. PINGREE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. PINGREE. Mr. Speaker, I think just about every one of us in 
Congress went through security at an airport in our home State this 
week, and like millions of Americans who fly every day, we are 
protected by 40,000 TSA officers that we depend on to keep us safe.
  But now, we are on the verge of stopping paychecks to all of those 
officers and 50,000 Border Patrol agents and 40,000 Active-Duty Coast 
Guard members who are needed to protect our shores. In my State and 
many others this winter, they are being called upon to break up the ice 
and keep our harbors open.
  It is not just the people who keep us safe. It is FEMA. Just like 
much of the country, we have suffered from one of the hardest winters 
in memory in Maine, but if the Department of Homeland Security is shut 
down, then FEMA will not be able to process any new
disaster relief applications from our States.
  This winter has created a crisis for my State and for many local 
governments. Let's not add to that with a manufactured crisis of our 
own by forcing the Department of Homeland Security to shut down, just 
because some people don't like President Obama's immigration policies.
  We have the votes right here in the House to pass a bill to fund DHS. 
Just let's take a vote on it.

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