Strengthening America's Security in the Middle East Act of 2019--Motion
Floor Speech
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Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today as the chairman of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee to express my strong support for the End the Government Shutdown and Secure Our Borders Act. This legislation includes many important priorities, and they are important priorities that we need to address now.
In the past several days and weeks, there has been a lot of talk about who has more leverage, who is winning, and what the political stakes are. You hear a lot of different answers to those questions, depending on whom you ask, quite frankly, but I will tell you one thing: Those are not the questions on the minds of our Federal workers.
Just this morning, at about 4 o'clock, I had a conversation with several TSA agents at Yeager Airport, where I fly out of to come to Washington. In talking about the situation, what I got in response from them was a lot of headshaking and a lot of questions. Their questions had to do with this: How are they going to pay their bills and when is this going to end? I understand their frustration. I am frustrated.
That is exactly why I have always said that a shutdown is no way to govern. It is not in anyone's best interest. It is a disservice to our Federal works. It is a show of our inability to do our jobs in conjunction with those on the other side of the aisle, and it is a signal to the American people that we think this confusing and ineffective way to govern is OK, when it is not. It is not OK.
We are here in this body to work together, to get over the rifts that we may have, and to move forward to do the people's work. We have to fix this situation, and we have to fix it now.
We have an opportunity today to do that, and I plan to do that by voting for the President's proposed compromise. This proposal does two things that we should all want. It reopens the government, and it helps to secure our southern borders. If we pass this amendment--and I hope we do--we will bring our furloughed workers back to work, and they will get paid. We will pay the dedicated men and women of our Coast Guard, our Federal prison guards, our TSA and Border Patrol personnel, and many others--many of whom I have talked with--and we will take a major step forward in securing our Nation.
I believe the resources in this bill are necessary because I believe we do face a crisis on our southern border. Last year, in the last 3 months of 2018, over 153,000 people were apprehended illegally crossing the southern border. And that number does not include the people who crossed illegally, but were not apprehended. The number of illegal border crossings was up more than 80 percent in the last 3 months of 2018, as compared to the last 3 months of 2017.
The composition of those being detained for crossing the border is changing. In 2000, 98 percent of those detained for illegally crossing the border were Mexican nationals, and most were single adults. They could be repatriated to Mexico very quickly, within hours. But, in 2018, more than 56 percent of individuals detained were from places other than Mexico. A large portion were from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.
Increasingly, individuals are showing up at our borders from all over the world. Forty percent were either unaccompanied minors or arrived as part of a family unit. That number is way up. That number is way up. That means longer detention proceedings that have placed a burden on our immigration court system, and it means an increased need for facilities to safely and responsibly house these people for a longer period of time.
I have visited the detention centers in Texas. I believe the facts make it very clear that there is a crisis. The amendment that we will vote on today offers a solution.
We also know that physical barriers work. In the San Diego, Tucson, El Centro, and El Paso regions, where there are constructed physical barriers, the illegal border crossings have gone down by more than 90 percent. That is undeniable. Right now, we have 654 miles of physical barrier in place.
I have heard folks say that we don't have any walls or that we don't have any barriers. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. If we pass this amendment, we can build 234 miles in areas like the Rio Grande Valley, where career Border Patrol personnel tell us it is most needed.
There has been a lot of talk that the professionals should be in charge here in terms of telling us how and what the best methods of protecting our borders are. Well, they are in charge. As subcommittee chair, I have had several meetings with them for them to tell me what their border security plan is, and the CBP has that.
This amendment would fund the bulk of the top 10 requests. They have a 33-point plan. This would get us through the top 10.
The funding in this bill provides for a border wall system--a system--which is much more than just a physical barrier. It provides lighting, sensors, cameras, and access roads to help our Border Patrol agents gain and maintain operational control of the border. These are the things that the Border Patrol has asked for. A wall is not the only solution, but it is a critical part of the solution.
The resources included in the amendment for the southern border are important to the security of our Nation, and they are especially important to address our drug crisis. Fentanyl seizures by the Border Patrol away from ports of entry are up 122 percent over last year.
Remember, fentanyl is a killer. Over half of the deaths by overdose in our State in some bit or in some part involved fentanyl.
Methamphetamine seizures by the Border Patrol away from ports of entry are up 75 percent in the last three years. The border wall system will reduce the flow of these illegal drugs between our points of entry.
We know that much of the heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine that are hurting so many Americans cross our border at the ports of entry. This amendment addresses that issue as well. It provides $805 million for technology, canines, and personnel to stop the flow of illegal drugs into our country. That is what West Virginians are interested in. This drug crisis is really impacting us. This would be an unprecedented investment in these types of detection capabilities--a complete game changer.
The amendment would allow us to hire more people, which is another thing the CPB says that they need--750 new border agents and 375 new Customs officers to complement these investments.
The combination of technology and personnel, both at our ports of entry and along the border, with the border wall system, would enhance our security. It will choke off a major source of the heroin and fentanyl that has devastated my State, and I am sure the Presiding Officer's State, as well, and across our country.
Resources are also included in the amendment to detain those who are apprehended for illegally crossing our border. I support the important work of the men and women of ICE, and I want them to be able to maintain custody of offenders, rather than being forced to release those who have entered our country illegally due to a lack of space. In my view, that is not only more safe and secure for us, but it is actually more safe and secure for anybody who is involved in the immigration system.
They and many more of the brave men and women of the Department of Homeland Security continue to perform these difficult tasks without getting paid during this shutdown.
Chairman Shelby's amendment is not a short-term patch. We are kind of past the time where we need a short-term patch. We need to move forward. It is not a continuing resolution that runs our government on autopilot for a little while and denies the Senate the ability to make smart choices in exercising the power of the purse.
Instead, it includes seven full appropriations bills that received significant bipartisan support in the Appropriations Committee, one of which is my bill at the Homeland Security Subcommittee, which was passed in a bipartisan way. Four of these bills passed the Senate floor with overwhelming support. I am very proud that the bill that I put forward in committee, along with some additions, are a part of this package.
There is $11.9 billion provided for our Coast Guard--this was in my bill--including to begin construction of something that I think is critical to our national security, which is the polar security cutters. More than $4.8 billion is provided for the TSA to improve transportation security, and $19.8 billion is appropriated for FEMA to make sure we have the necessary resources to respond to past and future natural disasters.
There are important priorities within these bills from other subcommittees as well. A couple I would like to highlight are these. The Agriculture title has $550 million for a rural broadband pilot project that I strongly support as part my Capito Connect plan in the State of West Virginia. The FSGG title has resources for the Drug-Free Communities and High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program, which is critical for stopping the drug epidemic that I have spoken about. The CJS title has $468 million to combat the opioid epidemic and another $30 million for economic development assistance to coalfield communities. These are just a few examples of what the Shelby amendment has.
The amendment that the Democratic leader has proposed reopens the government through February 8. It provides no new resources to address the security and humanitarian crisis on our southern border. Let me repeat that. It provides no new resources to address the security and humanitarian crisis on our southern border. Passing the Schumer plan would put us in the same position on February 8 that exists today.
We don't need to pause the shutdown for 15 days and ignore border security. Article I of the Constitution gives us, as the Congress, the power of the purse, and we should exercise it by making smart choices based on the situation that is in front of us today.
Continuing resolutions only cut and paste the choices that we made last year. Instead, we should pass the seven appropriations bills before us to fund the government for the rest of the year in a thoughtful way, in a bipartisan way, while also providing the necessary resources to protect our Nation.
President Trump has made a significant concession by asking that we include a provision giving 3 years of certainty to those covered by the DACA Executive order, as well as those who have been on temporary protected status. That provision is included in this amendment. This is the type of reasonable compromise that is necessary to pass major legislation during a period of divided government. No one--not the President, not any Senator, not any Representative--gets everything they want in this bill or any bill, really.
The bill includes items that many of us individually might have left out if we wrote the bill ourselves, but that is the nature of compromise.
The seven appropriations bills that make up the Shelby amendment are the product of significant bipartisan compromise on behalf of the Nation. I believe we should embrace the spirit of compromise to end this shutdown and secure our border. What can't be compromised is our Nation's security.
We just celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr., Day last Monday. As was I reading a lot of his famous quotes, I thought about this one because of the situation that we find ourselves in right now:
If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.
Let's start moving forward together. I hope that all of my colleagues will embrace this sentiment, and I hope that as I vote for the Shelby amendment, we will get enough to push it over the Senate floor and over to the House.
Thank you.
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