Further Continuing Appropriations for Department of Homeland Security, 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. FLEISCHMANN. I rise today in very strong opposition to the joint resolution.

Before I do that, Mr. Speaker, I wish to thank our full ranking member, Ms. Granger from Texas, my dear friend and colleague, for allowing me to chair this important subcommittee and for allowing me to manage this time today.

Mr. Speaker, I also would like to acknowledge my friend and colleague from the other side of the aisle, Ms. Roybal-Allard, who I look forward to working with over the next 2 years, she in her capacity of chair of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee and me in my role as ranking member, the highest member of the Republican Party on that subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, I also see my friend, Mrs. Lowey from New York, the full chairman, as well.

Mr. Speaker, how did we get here? The fiscal year that the government operates on started in September. It runs from September to September, so it started in the 115th Congress.

The Appropriations Committee, of which I am very proud and thankful to be a member, is a very special committee. For those who are watching us now, I would offer, and I have said time and time again, the Appropriations Committee is something special.

I am the only Member on the Appropriations Committee from my great State of Tennessee. And I admire every Member in this House and the positions and the committees they serve on, but the Appropriations Committee is a problem-solving committee. It is a committee that funds things, funds the government on the discretionary side, including Homeland Security.

During the course of the debate during this long and arduous shutdown--and let me say this: To the men and women who are working all across this Nation without pay, thank you. I sympathize with you--not empathize, but sympathize. This is wrong.

About 24 percent of the government is shut down, and that is never a good situation for us to be in as a nation; and that is why we must come up with a cure that will work, something that will pass the House, something that will pass the other Chamber.

And I add, today, as we debate this bill and as I oppose this bill, in the other Chamber, the United States Senate is debating bills. I would submit that the solution could and should come from the United States House of Representatives, and that solution is plain and simple.

The American people want and deserve border security. The American people want and desire a barrier. Call it a wall. Call it a fence. It is something that the American people want. It has been proven, whether in San Diego, El Paso, or other jurisdictions, that these walls do work.

But regardless where we stand on that issue, I support the President's position. The President has made it very clear that he is not going to sign a bill that does not include border security with a wall, or an analogous vehicle to a wall.

So if we keep coming back to the table, even with the best intentions, even with the best passions, even with the best hopes to help get the government open and running again and protect our borders--and I do believe Members on both sides of this aisle and in the other Chamber and, of course, in the White House want border security, want our country kept safe. The humanitarian crisis is outrageous. Women and children are being abused. Drugs are pouring in. But above all else, we need to secure our southern borders. We need to keep the American people safe.

The cure lies in a compromise. The cure ought to come from this body and if our friends in the majority would see fit to put a sufficient number on the table as part of a compromise.

Think of the boldness and courage of our President who stood up and basically said: I will come up with a cure for DACA, a solution on DACA.

That is courage. That is leadership. That is boldness. And I think that is what the American people deserve.

Let us, today, make a resolve that this great House, this great people's House, which I believe is closest to the people--we are elected every 2 years.

Think about it. The fiscal year, Mr. Speaker, is going to end in September. We are going to be back replaying this same argument again, this same debate again in just a few weeks. Come up with a solution that we can all work with. That means a wall. That means other areas of border security. That means full funding of the government.

Again, I close by saying to all of those who are working without pay, whether it is in our great Coast Guard, the TSA, the contractors who are hurting, I will continue to work hard to come to a compromise with my party, with my colleagues, to come to a conclusion to this national nightmare.

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Mr. FLEISCHMANN. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield as much time as she may wish to consume to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Granger), the ranking member on the full Appropriations Committee.

Members on both sides of the aisle can clearly show that today has been a day of speeches, of passion, and of good faith beliefs on both sides of the aisle. I want the American people to know that the people making these arguments on both sides of the aisle have bona fide ideas about how to get the government open, how to keep us safe, and how to move forward from this very difficult position.

I was an attorney for 24 years in my prior profession, and in my closing arguments, oftentimes I would point to the facts that were most beneficial to my case and to my client. But there was a vehicle that came up while I was practicing; it was called mediation. Mediation was a way that the parties could come to the table and all get something and all give something in return.

We have heard the same broken cure come from the majority since they became the majority. That cure--albeit in their view, their version of how to move forward--will not work. The practical constraints will require an agreement that the House, the Senate, and the White House all can agree on. That is the practical reality.

We agree that the hardworking men and women of the Coast Guard, TSA, and contractors are suffering, and we have got to stop that suffering. But when we know that the vote today--which I will oppose with my vote on behalf of my constituents. When we know that that will not work, then we have got to come back to the table with something that will work.

To continue to press for something that will not reopen the government and will not get our task done--and, again, I stress the fact that we are going to end this fiscal year in September of this year. In a few short weeks, when we move past this crisis, we are going to, in our respective subcommittees--and there are 12 on the great Appropriations Committee, including this great Subcommittee on Homeland Security. Ms. Roybal-Allard and I will be debating this again.

Mr. Speaker, I thank her for her hard work in these difficult times. This is fraying on me, this is fraying on our friends in the majority, and this is fraying on our staffs and the American people. But the solution is clear: Give us--give the American people--funds for a border wall as part of an overall compromise to get border security, to get the government open, and, yes, to look at other ways to keep our southern border and the American people safe.

So my ``no'' vote today is not a ``no'' vote just to say no. My ``no'' vote today is a statement to say to our friends in the majority, as well-intentioned as they may be--and I can stress to my colleagues that we on the minority side are well intentioned. It is not about good faith or bad faith; it is about bona fide differences.

The American people elect us to lead. Our great Republic is not an easy way to govern, but, Mr. Speaker, I would submit it is the best way to govern. I know that it is hard right now for some people not getting a paycheck to understand, but in our great Republic, it takes two Houses of Congress. It takes an executive, the President, and, yes, it takes the Supreme Court as well.

So, Mr. Speaker, I will close in opposition. I will close with the best intentions, and I just implore and I plead with my friends in the majority: Put something on the table that will fund border security, that will give us a wall, that will give us a barrier where it works, and we will open the government and keep the American people safe.

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