Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2024
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, the amendment offered by the gentleman from California is well-meaning, but ultimately misguided. We are averaging nearly 10,000 encounters at the southern border on a daily basis, near record levels. My bill addresses the challenge by funding an additional 1,800 Border Patrol agents to relieve the burden on our overworked agents along the southwest border.
Taking funds dedicated to the Border Patrol agents and instead using them to hire additional customs officers dilutes our efforts to secure the border between the ports of entry. Additional officers may be needed to help with legitimate trade and travel that crosses the border, but we have to address the immediate crisis caused by this administration's disastrous border security policies.
If you turn on the television, you can see the flood of migrants heading north on trains, crossing the border in an uncontrolled fashion. It must stop, which is why we desperately need additional men and women in green uniforms to help us gain operational control of the border. I reluctantly urge my colleagues to vote no on this amendment.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, I urge a ``no'' vote on this amendment.
Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, this amendment seeks to strike several provisions that are crucial to ending the open border crisis that this administration has created.
While I have heard it just portrayed as somehow being cruel and being done by names that are called MAGA or other things, if I am not mistaken, it was just this morning on the news that I happened to see the mayor, I believe a Democrat, from New York saying they can't take any more; the Governor of New York, a Democrat, saying they can't take any more; the Governor of Massachusetts declaring a state of emergency; the Democratic mayor of Chicago, same issue.
I guess it is our problem, and we are attempting to fix it. The Biden administration continues to subvert the law and implement policies that are detrimental to our border security, our national security, and our overall sovereignty.
This bill includes several provisions to mitigate the misguided and ineffective policies of the Biden administration that have been exploited by transnational criminal organizations, human smugglers, and cartels.
For example, the bill prohibits funds to implement the administration's prosecutorial discretion guidance, which encourages DHS attorneys to administratively close nonpriority cases, allowing aliens to continue living in this country without having any legal basis to do so.
Additionally, this bill includes a provision prohibiting asylum officers from making determinations about an alien's credible fear claims instead of actual immigration judges.
These are only two of the main provisions in the bill that seek to reverse the damage done in the past 2\1/2\ years and halt the migration crisis in its tracks.
To strike these provisions would be to tell our constituents that Congress approves of this administration's catastrophe at the border. Nothing could be further from the truth.
While they may not admit it, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle know that what is happening at the border right now is nothing short of a catastrophe.
Mayors and Governors throughout this country alike are speaking out on the impact of the illegal migration crisis on communities across the Nation and are calling on this administration to acknowledge and resolve the problem at the border. This amendment would only make the disaster worse.
Mr. Chair, I urge defeat of the amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Chair, I will give a couple of examples of the type of torture that the language in this bill supports and endorses.
One provision, section 404, prohibits funds for asylum officers to adjudicate fear claims, which is the point of our asylum program.
Republicans include the perfect provision to demonstrate that they value disrupting due process for migrants more than they value speeding up results for their constituents. They want to block asylum officers, who receive extensive training and face enough difficulties as it is, from assessing whether refugees have a reasonable claim to asylum.
While Republicans continue to engage in massive hyperbole, leaving people with the impression that people are storming the border, this bill actually prevents a lawful, orderly asylum process from occurring because the Republicans defund it in this bill.
Another section eliminates the inspections of detention facilities. All I have heard since the MAGA majority gaveled in this Congress is oversight, oversight, oversight. Yet, when it comes to our detention facilities where vulnerable women and families are held indefinitely without a trial or legal counsel, Republicans want no oversight at all.
These inspections are critical. These inspectors ought to get combat pay for what they walk into. At one facility in my home State, Mr. Chair, an investigation found severe violations, including sexual voyeurism by guards, denial of menstrual products as punishment, refusal of lifesaving medication and healthcare, beatings, and extended solitary confinement.
Yet, Republicans in this Homeland Security bill actually eliminate funding for inspections of detention facilities and allow this torture to continue. It is outrageous.
Mr. Chair, I will use the balance of my time to underscore my fierce opposition to these toxic anti-immigrant provisions.
I will always stand up to counterattacks on legal pathways for migrants. I will also condemn cruelty against the vulnerable, even when it is justified by deterrence. I will never stay silent when opportunists try to blind the American people to the trauma we are inflicting on a generation of refugees.
The extreme MAGA Republicans ignored dozens of commonsense requests from bipartisan Members regarding detention conditions, preserving asylum access, and ensuring that Congress upholds its oversight responsibility.
Mr. Chair, I hope my colleagues will join me in mitigating the most harmful components of this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, I urge a ``no'' vote, and I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, the amendment before you seeks to strike a provision in the bill that requires the prioritization of detention and appropriate GPS monitoring technology for aliens going through immigration proceedings.
As we continue to see record levels of migrant encounters under this administration, and our nondetained docket continues to grow exponentially, we must use every available tool to compel the Department to enforce the law.
Striking the provision will give the Biden administration a free pass to continue releasing migrants into the country, a total disregard of the law. We cannot allow the administration to continue the status quo that has ravaged our communities.
Mr. Chair, I urge defeat of the amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, I certainly appreciate my distinguished colleague and am always there to work together in a bipartisan fashion to try to fashion something.
She is right. It is long overdue for Congress to address this situation, but unfortunately, this is about appropriations and not authorizations.
Therefore, Mr. Chair, I urge a ``no'' vote on this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, I claim time in opposition.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, we set out to make precise and calculated cuts in this bill due to CISA's rapid growth over the last few years. The top line serves effectively as a strategic pause and significant budget growth. It is $19 million above the fiscal 2023 enacted level, but $130 million below the President's requests.
This provides CISA the opportunity to mature its operations commensurate with its historic budget growth. This amendment would cut CISA's operation and support budget by 25 percent on top of what we have already done.
We had a debate on a cut of this magnitude during full committee consideration, and I said then, as I do again now, passing this amendment would make our homeland less secure. This mis-, dis-, and mal-information language is strong, and I want to commend the gentleman from Georgia for his valuable edits to those provisions during markup, which we made sure we addressed in a more holistic way.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, it is with the utmost respect I speak to my colleague. We have had lengthy debates about this in full committee. I understand and appreciate the desire that he has to defund or at least severely reduce the budget of this agency.
However, we are at a time in America where it serves as a clearinghouse for those rogue nations and bad actors that prey upon Americans on a daily basis. This is something that is not only important for everybody who works in the cyber communities and cyber systems, but also for the schools, hospitals, water and sewage facilities, the gas pipeline, and all those things throughout our country that don't have a safety net. They have to rely on CISA for their information in the hope and support because unfortunately the companies that provide the software do nothing when they are hacked by these outside influences and actors.
All this agency could do and hope to do is promote that clearinghouse, if you will, that platform for which we can all come to an understanding. Bad actors exist and we must prevent it.
I understand and appreciate and will work closely with my colleague to make sure the things he talks about as far as the attacks on First Amendment rights never occur in any agency of the United States.
Mr. Chair, at this time I must urge a ``no'' vote, and I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, I understand and join in the outrage shared by my colleagues over the CISA mis-, dis-, and malinformation scandal.
No administration and no government should ever be in the business of labeling or attempting to convince social media companies that First Amendment-protected speech is or is not disinformation.
The government is not the arbiter of the truth, a position that even the ACLU agrees with. That is why we worked diligently to address government censorship concerns in this bill, and I stand by our language.
However, this amendment is not targeted at the policies of the Biden administration that we disagree with. It is targeted at a person who wasn't in office when CISA engaged in mis-, dis-, and malinformation activities. While we might not agree with her policies, the CISA Director has a history of dutiful service to this country, including a long career in the military.
Director Easterly is a West Point graduate, two-time recipient of the Bronze Star, retiring from the Army after more than 20 years in intelligence and cyber operations.
While I empathize with the sponsor on the sentiment behind this amendment, I cannot support it, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cuellar), the ranking member.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, in closing, I disagree. I understand and appreciate the concerns of my colleague and certainly feel that, again, they have been addressed in what we could do within the confines of an appropriations bill. I urge a ``no'' vote, and I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, I empathize with wanting to hold this administration accountable for its many failed border and immigration policies. I also join in the outrage shared by my colleagues over the CISA mis-, dis-, and malinformation scandal.
Labelling Americans' First Amendment-protected speech as mis-, dis-, or malinformation is not a role for any government agency, whether there is a Democrat or Republican in the White House. However, this amendment targets a career civil servant who was not in charge of creating the policy on which we disagree.
We worked diligently in our bill to address the security failures and censorship concerns associated with this administration. I stand by our language.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cuellar), the ranking member.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, I don't want to make any arguments other than to say that I urge a ``no'' vote on this, and I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, Texans have every right to defend and secure their borders, particularly during a time when the White House has abandoned attempts to secure the border and enforce our immigration laws.
Due to the Biden administration's failed policy, States along the border, including Texas, are seeing their resources being severely depleted. They are overrun. Therefore, Governor Abbott did what most responsible, reasonable public servants would do and launched Operation Lone Star. The goal of Operation Lone Star is to stop cartels and criminals from smuggling deadly drugs, weapons, and people into Texas.
As of last week, the multiagency effort resulted in 457,500 apprehensions and more than 34,400 criminal arrests, with more than 31,300 felonies reported. In the fight against fentanyl, Texas law enforcement has seized over 429 million lethal doses of fentanyl.
Due to the rapid and dangerous migrant street releases in Texas, the Governor has recently had to deploy additional buses to Eagle Pass and El Paso to assist those border communities overwhelmed by the influx of migrants. This is a constantly compounding issue that gets forgotten in the beltway because it is out of sight and out of mind.
This administration is putting politics over people, and it has completely abandoned these areas along our southwest border. If this was happening in my backyard, I would want my State to step up, too. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Pfluger), my friend.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. 24 be vacated to the end that the amendment be withdrawn.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Madam Chair, I claim the time in opposition.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Madam Chair, I appreciate my colleague's concern about the rampant Federal spending by the Democrats and this administration. However, this amendment is not the way to address the larger problem we face.
This bill makes targeted cuts to wasteful spending, eliminates funding for woke programs, and prohibits funding for policies and programs that encourage illegal immigration. In contrast, this amendment would indiscriminately cut the top-line spending of the Department of Homeland Security by $8.7 billion, which is a 14 percent reduction to the discretionary funding in this bill.
These cuts would not be targeted to specific programs or activities. Instead, it would be left to the Biden administration to decide how and where to apply these reductions. Unfortunately, this administration would likely align such reductions into its proposals in the President's budget request.
The first cut the administration will make is to eliminate the $2.1 billion for the border wall, followed by the 16,500 additional detention beds that were funded in this bill.
Funding for Border Patrol staffing would be slashed, as would funding for additional ICE deportation officers.
All the critical border security investments and immigration priorities we have included in this bill will be stripped out in favor of continuing the status quo.
Let's ensure that this bill we pass on the floor does what the Biden administration has failed to do--act to address the border security crisis, which has been raging for the last 2\1/2\ years.
Let's remember that true border security comes with a price tag, and I think we should all be willing to pay.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Madam Chair, I appreciate the concerns of the gentleman from Montana, but I maintain that I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Madam Chair, I demand a recorded vote.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Madam Chair, I move that the Committee do now rise.
The motion was agreed to.
Accordingly, the Committee rose; and the Speaker pro tempore (Mr. Tiffany) having assumed the chair, Mrs. Miller-Meeks, Acting Chair of the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, reported that that Committee, having had under consideration the bill (H.R. 4367) making appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes, had come to no resolution thereon.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source