Providing for Consideration of H.R. Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, 2026
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, the bill at issue today is not a serious legislative effort. It is political theater.
Republican leadership is trying to use President Trump's aimless, costly, and illegal war with Iran to force through more funding for ICE and Customs and Border Protection without the substantial changes that the vast majority of Americans believe those agencies need. It is a cynical effort, and it is one that will fail.
If Republicans are actually serious about the threat that President Trump's war with Iran has caused, then they would move quickly to bring up my bill. They rejected the amendment last night in the Rules Committee, but I will tell you what it would fund.
The bill would fund law-abiding components of DHS: Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA; Disaster Relief Fund; Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; U.S. Coast Guard; Transportation Security Administration, TSA; U.S. Secret Service; Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers; Science and Technology Directorate; Office of Inspector General; and Federal Protective Service. These are the agencies that are part of what we ought to be funding and could fund today if the Republicans wanted to do it.
Mr. Speaker, they do not want to do it because they support lawless, reckless agencies, ICE and Customs and Border Patrol. We can set those aside for further negotiations as those negotiations continue.
Unlike the bill Republicans have put forward, my measure actually has a good chance of passing if only the Republican leadership would allow it to come forward with a vote.
If we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up my bill, H.R. 7481, so that Members can vote to fund the law-abiding agencies within the Department of Homeland Security.
There is broad agreement on the funding of these agencies. There is no controversy over any of them. There is significant controversy over ICE and Customs and Border Protection because they have beaten, detained, harassed, and even killed law-abiding U.S. citizens with zero accountability.
I ask my colleagues across the aisle, why not allow funding for the parts of Homeland Security that we have no disagreements over? Let's pass those, allow that disaster relief to be replenished, allow TSA and Secret Service agents to be paid, allow the Coast Guard to support its servicemembers, and ensure our cybersecurity measures are in place.
We are going to negotiate reforms to ICE and Customs and Border Protection. It is underway. What are those reforms? There is broad public support for prohibiting the detention or deportation of U.S. citizens and prohibiting operations at sensitive locations like schools and houses of worship.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, there is also support to require agencies to get a warrant from a judge before kicking in somebody's door, require the removal of masks, require badges and identification, allow independent investigations into wrongdoing, end racial profiling, and end roving patrols.
Let me just say what I am sick and tired of is listening to the crocodile tears that are being shed on the other side of the aisle for the Federal employees who work at these agencies. They couldn't care less.
I will give you examples. The President's budget had a $500 million cut to cybersecurity. Where were they when that happened? Where were they when President Trump and Kristi Noem talked about dismantling FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency? Where were they on all of these bills when their guru, Elon Musk, said a thousand people could go from the cybersecurity agency?
There wasn't a peep out of them for that. It is disingenuous. They know it. The public knows it. In fact, they want to support ICE and CBP, but they don't want to support the Federal employees. Vote ``no'' on the previous question.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source