Providing for Consideration of H.R. Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, 2026

Floor Speech

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Mr. GARBARINO. Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, I rise today in support of the rule providing for consideration of H.R. 7744.

As America faces heightened threats on U.S. soil and abroad, DHS is in the midst of its second major shutdown in 6 months because of Democrats' political games.

This lapse in appropriations means a disruption in our Nation's disaster preparedness, transportation security, and critical infrastructure resilience when we need it most.

As a lifelong New Yorker, I find it outrageous that DHS continues to be undermined by Washington's dysfunction. Twenty-five years after the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil, I urge my Democratic colleagues to not forget why this Department was established in the first place.

As we speak, the vast majority of DHS personnel are, once again, continuing their essential missions to protect the American people without knowing when their next paycheck will come, while others have been furloughed, further undermining our preparedness.

The frustrating reality is that this was completely avoidable. House Republicans sent this bipartisan and bicameral deal on full-year DHS funding to the Senate nearly 2 months ago. This bill includes funding for body cameras, support for the DHS Office of Inspector General, additional resources for training, and new transparency and oversight requirements for ICE.

By holding this bill up in the Senate, Democrats are also blocking funding for FEMA's preparedness, response, and recovery efforts across the country. They are blocking funding for TSA ahead of major events like the World Cup. Democrats are blocking funding for Coast Guard operations that we use to counter our adversaries. They are blocking our funding for our cybersecurity workforce while Iran is attacking us daily in our cybersecurity terrain.

The security of our homeland is not a partisan talking point. It is an American imperative. Holding DHS hostage when lives and livelihoods are on the line is reckless.

Mr. Speaker, I urge House Democrats to show their Senate counterparts that the right thing to do is support this bill.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ.

Now that we are on the point of thank-yous, my colleague suggested that I get up and thank them for bringing this bill again.

I do think it is a waste of House resources doing the same thing over again.

However, I do thank the gentleman because we are able to make the point again to the American people about how bad ICE is. The American people agree with us that what ICE is doing is not American. It is not American to kill us point-blank--murders--for doing nothing more than using a phone to video what they are doing.

Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up H.R. 7481, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026, a bill which fully funds law-abiding agencies under the Department of Homeland Security and not the unlawful actions of ICE and CBP. That is because we agree that we need to fund FEMA, TSA, and the Coast Guard. There is no reason to have these important agencies tied to the funding for Trump's ICE cruelty agenda.

Indeed, Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro introduced a bill to fund FEMA, TSA, and the Coast Guard. Last night, at Rules, I tried to make her bill in order so the House could vote on it, so the House could say, yes, we believe in these agencies, and we want to fund them. Every single Republican in the committee voted against it.

Let's be honest about who is voting against funding for the Coast Guard, for TSA, and for these agencies. It is Republicans. Republicans voted against it last night, but we are going to ask Republicans once again: Will they vote to fund the Coast Guard, FEMA, and TSA? We will ask whether they will vote for that because we are going to give them another opportunity to do that. We are going to do that.

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