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

Floor Speech

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Mr. FINE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today angry. I rise angry by the stunning disparity between the priorities of the two parties.

This week, Republicans' number one priority is to reopen the Department of Homeland Security because our homeland is under threat, whereas Democrats' number one priority, as we will see this afternoon, is to stop and protect those who would endanger our homeland.

The U.S. Coast Guard is actively in operations in Bahrain, protecting the United States, and every one of those brave individuals is not being paid. Not only that, but the DHS Office of Counterterrorism and Homeland Threats is not being paid to look after those who would threaten us in the United States.

What has changed in the last 3 weeks? Let me give you some examples. Today is March 4. Two days ago in Michigan, Islamic scholar and expert in Islam Hassanain Rajabali said the following about the killing of Khamenei: Why do we keep hearing our leaders--this is someone in America referring to Khamenei as ``our leader''--why are we hearing our leaders are being killed and the other side does not? It will come. Don't worry. ``Mahdi will cut tentacles of Rothschilds.''

We need Homeland Security to protect us from this guy.

On February 28, someone who came to Michigan in 1991, who got two degrees at American universities, Dearborn Heights Imam--a religious leader running a mosque--Mohammad Ali Elahi eulogized Khamenei: He would have loved to end his life this way--being killed by the most wretched hands on Earth--speaking about the United States. Even Democrats believe Khamenei was a bad guy. Nothing is greater than martyrdom after 86 years of service.

We need DHS to be funded to protect us from this guy.

Third example: A taxpayer-funded government employee working at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn, Ali Akbar Shdid: Trump made a huge mistake by killing our leader--again, ``our leader'' being Khamenei. He continued: We are going to continue on his path. We are going to hold his blood and ideology and teach it to our children.

We are paying for this. We need DHS to protect us from this guy. That is just Michigan.

State number two, California: February 28, someone who came from Iraq to the United States in 1994, another Muslim scholar, an expert in Islam, Dr. Sayed Moustafa Qazwini, a Ph.D.: I pray to exit life as a martyr. Like Khamenei, may Allah be pleased with him, not in bed, home, or hospital.

DHS needs to protect us from him.

Mr. Speaker, down the road in Virginia, a mosque in Manassas honoring what they call, again, our leader, Khamenei, extending condolences and glad tidings on his martyrdom.

By the way, these are not being captured with a hidden microphone. They are proudly broadcasting this.

In New York, Zohran Mamdani, February 20, attended a mosque with known ties to Iran and sat there as the imam prayed for the Mahdi to kill the infidels by his sword. We need DHS open to protect us from that.

This is personal for me. In Austin, a Muslim terrorist, who never should have been in this country, just killed three people, and I will talk about him in a bit.

He retweeted, commented on one of my tweets, upset about my criticism of the kind of terrorism that he so engaged in. I didn't find it. So lest any Member of Congress think these threats are not real, if they can do it to me, they can do it to any one of you.

I will close with this. We hear the names of the two who died in Minnesota, but how do we not say the names of Ryder Harrington, Savitha Shan, and Jorge Pederson, who were killed by that man in Austin.

We need the Department of Homeland Security open to protect us from them. How many Americans are going to die while the Department of Homeland Security is closed? We swore an oath to protect Americans, not to protect terrorists. We need to get the Department of Homeland Security open so that we can live up to that obligation.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ.

Mr. Speaker, we can get DHS open if Republicans would vote to return this bill so that we could, indeed, fund FEMA, the Coast Guard, and the other agencies.

Let's talk a little bit about FEMA because what we are seeing this President do is use this moment to make life more miserable for Americans. FEMA has $4 billion in Disaster Relief Fund. Even though it has that money, DHS is shutting down assistance to victims. It is doing that even though it has the money.

This is just like what Trump did last time where he had the money for nutrition assistance to fund SNAP and he said no. I would prefer that children go hungry, even though I have the money in the bank.

This shouldn't be surprising given Secretary Noem's record. She has put roadblock after roadblock to actually let FEMA do work. She says anything over $100,000 has to come to my office. That didn't stop her from giving away several millions of dollars in ad funding to somebody related to her because this is, indeed, a corrupt administration. There is corruption at the highest level, and we see that over and over again.

When we talk about U.S. citizens harmed, let's talk about U.S. citizens harmed by our own agency.

Marimar Martinez was a teaching assistant. She was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent in October. She was in a car. That agent said, bragging: ``I fired five rounds, and she had seven holes.'' He had to recant their allegations that she had done anything wrong.

George Retes, a former Army infantryman and disabled veteran, pulled out of his car telling ICE: I am a veteran. I am a citizen. He then spent time in detention. He came to the House and was a guest for the State of the Union Address. We got to meet him.

Peter Yazzie, a Navajo Nation, our first Americans, and Laguna Pueblo member, was detained by ICE members. He told them: I am a Native American. I have my Certificate of Indian Blood. He was detained, arrested, abused in that moment.

Jose Roberto ``Beto'' Ramirez, 20-year-old member of the Ojibwe Nation, was yanked from the passenger's seat of his aunt's car, slammed on the hood, handcuffed, and held in custody.

Aliya Rahman is a disabled social activist. She had her windows broken, pulled out by force, and experienced shooting pain.

These are citizens. These are citizens, and they don't seem to care. It is something when you can't control the horrible actions.

We condemn the terrorism. We condemn the Ayatollah. We condemn all of that. We don't control them, but we sure should control our own agents and our own agencies.

He has led and inspired us in so many different times, and I look forward to listening to him.

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