Date: 2015-01-13
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Thank you. Mr. Chairman. the Homeland Security Department has been entrusted by the United States Congress and the American people to give guidance to the security and the protection of their families. It is not families who. by chance. are considered undocumented. it is all families. What the President did in his executive action is to define for America who is here in this country. not only that. he gave an economic engine by providing for fines and fees in order to get in regular order. By the way. Mr. Chairman. these individuals are not getting in front of those who have been standing in line through the legal immigration process. They have a separate process that simply gives them status. not immigration status. He is not bestowing upon them immigration status. As I close. I ask: Is there any heart and warmth to those who are debating these questions? First. do we understand family. and do we understand we are a nation of immigrants? What has been established is an infrastructure of law to help them be established in regular order. What we are doing is undermining the national security of this Nation to cast against those who are innocent. I ask my colleagues to defeat these amendments and to vote for a clean Homeland Security bill. Lets support the national security of Americans. Mr. Chair. while it is not perfect. I would support H.R. 240. the Fiscal Year 2015 Homeland Security Appropriations Act. as originally introduced because it provides adequate funding of the Department of Homeland Security. including support for important federal cybersecurity initiatives. disaster relief and recovery programs. and essential law enforcement activities that are critical for ensuring the Department can help keep our Nation safe from harm. But I cannot support the bill on final passage if it contains any of the "poison pill" amendments made in order by the Rules Committee. Those amendments are simply the latest attempt by House Republicans to prohibit the executive branch from exempting or deferring from deportation any immigrants considered to be unlawfully present in the United States under U.S. immigration law. and to prohibit the administration from treating those immigrants as if they were lawfully present or had lawful immigration status. I oppose all of the amendments made in order by the Rules Committee because their inclusion will spell certain doom for the bill and needlessly put the security of the homeland at risk at a time when things are so perilous in the world. The recent terrorist attacks in Paris and by Boko Haram in Nigeria given heightened urgency to the words of Appropriations Committee Chairman ROGERS that we need to get a clean Homeland Security spending bill "to the presidents desk so we can get a signature funding Homeland Security at a very tedious time in the world." Sending this bill to the president with the Republican poison pill amendments will result in a presidential veto rather the signature needed for the bill to become law. In addition. were the bill to become law with the poison pill amendments intact. it would inflict tremendous damage to the nations economy and the economy of my home state of Texas. According to an analysis conducted by the Council of Economic Advisors. the executive actions taken by the President to mitigate the damage caused by our broken immigration system would grow the U.S. economy by $90 billion to $210 billion over the next ten years. And they would grow the GDP of my home state of Texas by $8.2 billion to $19.2 billion over that same period and increase Texas state revenues by $770 million to $1.8 billion. I cannot and will not support a bill that would do such harm to our efforts to protect the homeland and expand the economy so that it creates jobs for all who seek employment at wages that will enable workers to provide for their families and their retirement. buy and keep their homes. and send their children to college. I urge my colleagues to reject all of the amendments made in order by the Rules Committee and pass the bill as originally introduced by Chairman ROGERS. There are many good things in that bill that are worthy of support. including the following: 1. $39.7 billion in regular discretionary appropriations for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in fiscal year 2015. 2. $12.6 billion for Customs and Border Protection (CBP). DHS would be required to accelerate the hiring of CBP officers. 3. $5.96 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plus an additional $345 million from the agencys fee funded accounts. bringing the total to $6.3 billion. 4. $553.6 million in funding to manage the influx of unaccompanied alien children. or "UAC." entering the U.S.. the funding would be used to interdict migrants. care for and transport approximately 58.000 undocumented children to the custody of Health and Human Services (HHS). and facilitate the movement of undocumented families through removal proceedings after crossing the U.S. border. 5. $1.9 billion for both domestic and international investigations. including increases to combat human trafficking. child exploitation. cybercrime. and drug smuggling. and to expand visa vetting capabilities. 6. $4.8 billion for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). 7. $10 billion for the U.S. Coast Guard. 8. $753.2 million for cybersecurity operations in the National Programs and Protection Directorate to fund and sustain improvements to the Federal Network Security and Network Security Deployment programs. 9. $1.7 billion for the U.S. Secret Servicean increase of $80.5 million above the fiscal year 2014 enacted levelto begin preparation and training for candidate protection for the 2016 presidential election and to address critical failures in communications and training at the White House Complex. 10. $7 billion for disaster relieffully funding FEMAs stated requirement. and 11. $1.1 billion for Science and Technology. $32.1 million above the Presidents request. The White House has announced that the President will sign H.R. 240 as originally introduced but he will veto the bill if it contains any of the irresponsible and reckless amendments made in order by the Rules Committee. I urge all my colleagues to join me in voting against all of the amendments and sending a clean Homeland Security funding bill that will receive the presidential signature needed to become and law provide the resources needed to keep our homeland safe.