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

Floor Speech

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Mr. KENNEDY of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Jack), for the privilege of being able to speak on this really important topic today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the rule to put a stop to yet another Democrat/Schumer shutdown and fund the Department of Homeland Security at this critical time. We all know and Democrats know that shutdowns are bad for the American people. That has been true regardless of which party has caused them.

Democrats have now shut down the government twice in the span of 4 months, holding the American people's safety hostage to their policy demands.

We have just heard Democrats admit responsibility for this nonsensical shutdown on this floor today. House Republicans negotiated in good faith with House and Senate Democrats and produced a clean, bipartisan funding bill for all of the Departments. That is how this process is supposed to work.

ICE is already funded and operational, exposing the Schumer shutdown as a political stunt more than anything else. What has actually been left without funding is the Coast Guard, TSA, and FEMA, the agencies that keep us safe when disaster strikes. The agencies on the front lines of American safety are now in limbo over a political standoff that never should have happened.

Even more troubling is the fact that the agency tasked with keeping Americans safe from terrorism is defunded when we face terrorist threats from Iran.

Mr. Speaker, I say to my Democratic friends and colleagues: Stop the games. End the shutdown.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ.

Mr. Speaker, I ask for unanimous consent to include in the Record the February 2026 PBS News article titled: ``Poll: Nearly two-thirds of Americans say ICE has gone too far in immigration crackdown.''

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