Secure the Southwest Border Act of 2014

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to continue the debate on H.R. 5230, with further amendments added by the rule the House just adopted. The need to pass this bill before Congress leaves for the August break is just as critical today as it was yesterday.

This bill, Mr. Speaker, provides funding to meet immediate border security and humanitarian needs in response to the recent surge of illegal immigrants crossing our southern border.

In terms of funding, this bill is essentially the same as the legislation the House considered yesterday. It emphasizes securing our borders, providing humanitarian assistance for unaccompanied children in U.S. custody, and preventing further influxes of illegal immigration, both by funding vital programs and by implementing important policy provisions. This is also a fiscally responsible bill. All funding is offset, so it won't add a penny to our deficit.

However, the bill differs from the version yesterday by adding an additional $35 million for the National Guard to allow States, including Texas, to be reimbursed for National Guard activities related to border security and the current influx of illegal immigrants. This brings the new total of the bill to $694 million, and, again, it is fully offset.

In addition, the bill includes new tweaks to various policy provisions which will help to further tighten our borders and provide solutions that help solve our immigration challenges for the future.

Mr. Speaker, we have a crisis on our hands, and we can't simply get up and walk away. It is our moral responsibility to protect our homeland and to properly care for and process the thousands of unaccompanied children who put their lives in the hands of criminals to cross our borders. We simply can't turn our backs on this. We must pass this bill today, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, we are here with this crisis because the President announced a policy that no one would be deported unless they were a criminal. That word spread through our Central American countries, and families said: hey, the gates are open; while this President is in office, if you go there and you get in, then you won't be deported.

The administration knew this 2 years ago. The word came out that we were being flooded, increasingly so, from Central American countries. So we are here trying to fix the problem that is an emergency caused by this administration, and the administration's control of the other body, rather than help us solve the problem, left town at noon today without doing anything. So we are trying to clean up their mess and the administration's mess, and this bill will do that.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Mrs. Granger), the chair of the Speaker's task force on border security and the chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source