Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2015 - Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, yesterday we were informed of another barbaric act by ISIS--literally burning a Jordanian pilot to death in a cage. This follows news reports of beheadings of Japanese citizens, Americans, and so many others. It is an indication of the threat not just to the Middle East but to the world of terrorism in its extreme, as ISIS demonstrates on a regular basis.

It was ironic that the same day we learned this, I visited the Department of Homeland Security and met with the Secretary, Jeh Johnson, and talked about the political strategy of the Republicans when it comes to funding the Department of Homeland Security--the same Department that is responsible for keeping America safe from the threat of terrorism.

You see, the Presiding Officer knows well that when we were here in December passing an omnibus appropriations bill, the House Republicans insisted that one agency be singled out and not properly funded, one agency of our government: the Department of Homeland Security. They funded every other agency of the government to September 30 of this year in a regular appropriations process but refused--the Republicans refused to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Why? They wanted to reserve the right to fight with the President over the issue of immigration. They wanted to reserve the right to object to any Executive action taken by the President related to immigration. Their forum for this objection? The appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security.

Yesterday Secretary Johnson came to our Democratic caucus lunch to explain what it was like to manage a department of our government under a continuing resolution. That is the technical name in our Budget Act for temporary funding. He said it was like driving a car with a gas tank that only held 5 gallons of gasoline and not being sure where the next service station was going to turn up. He said: That is how I am called on now to run the Department of Homeland Security--the Department that we entrust more than any other to keep us safe from terrorism.

Why? Why would the Republicans choose this Department to single out and not properly fund? At a time when we are facing threats of ghastly terrorism in this world that we have not seen, why would the Republicans insist on making the appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security the forum for their debate with President Obama?

Now the Senator from Kentucky, our majority leader, comes to the floor and says: Well, yesterday the Democrats refused to vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

I will make a point for the record here that when the majority leader turns to page 12 of the publication sitting on his desk, the Calendar of Business of the Senate, when he turns to page 12, he should look at line 7 on page 12 of the Calendar of Business of the Senate, and there he will find S. 272, introduced by Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Senator Mikulski of Maryland.

Let me read what S. 272 is:

A bill making appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2015, and for other purposes.

Read the second time and placed on the calendar on January 28.

This bill will fund the Department of Homeland Security. This bill is a clean appropriations bill.

If you look at the bill Senator McConnell and others have brought to the floor for funding the Department of Homeland Security--I invite the Senator from Kentucky and those who are interested in debate to turn to page 55. Start reading on page 55 the general provisions that were sent to us by the House of Representatives--page after page of riders and restrictions on the appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security.

You see, the House of Representatives said: We will only fund the Department of Homeland Security if we can have our way when it comes to these restrictions on how they spend money.

Well, what is it that is so important to the House Republicans and Senate Republicans that they are willing to risk funding of the Department of Homeland Security? What is it that is holding them up from putting the resources in the hands of Secretary Johnson and this Department that they need to keep America safe? It must be something that is momentous, historic. What is the reason they are taking a stand and leaving America vulnerable? Well, the Republicans clearly must have something that they think is even more threatening to the United States than terrorism. What could it be? Well, it turns out we know, because of riders attached by the House of Representatives. The Republicans in Congress are more fearful of a group known as the DREAMers than they obviously are of the threat of terrorism from these extreme groups.

Who are these DREAMers? Well, I know this issue better than some. Fourteen years ago it came to my attention that there was a serious miscarriage of justice taking place in the United States. It turns out that children brought to our country by their parents who were undocumented literally had no country. They grew up in America. They went to school in America. They lived in America. They considered themselves Americans. They pledged allegiance to our flag in their classrooms. They sang our national anthem. They dreamed of their future, only to learn when they were still children that that opportunity was not there for them. You see, they were undocumented. Their parents brought them to America, never filed any papers, and they were undocumented.

It did not seem right to me at the time that a young person--a toddler, an infant--brought to this country would be paying this heavy price with their lives because of any wrongdoing by their parents. So I introduced a bill, the DREAM Act, at the time cosponsored by Senator Hatch of Utah. We said in that bill: If you were brought to America as a child and your parents brought you here and did not file the papers or left you in an undocumented state, but you lived in America, did nothing wrong in America, graduated from high school in America, we would give you a chance. We would give you a chance to step forward if you were willing to either serve in our military or go to college and put you on a path to legalization. That was the DREAM Act. It was introduced 14 years ago. It has never become the law of the land.

In that period of time, of course, thousands of young people have found themselves in this predicament. It was 2 1/2 years ago when I joined 20 other Senators and wrote to President Obama and said: Can you consider an Executive order that would protect these DREAMers from deportation so that they can live in America?

And the President, 2 1/2 years ago, did. It was known as DACA, and this program said to these young people, this is your chance. Come forward, register, go through a criminal background check, prove you graduated from high school, and the President, 2 1/2 years ago, said: We won't deport you.

We estimate 2 million young people would be eligible. Six hundred thousand have stepped forward and have been given this protection from deportation.

This is the program that has led the Republicans in the House and Senate to threaten funding for the Department of Homeland Security. The very thought that these young people could stay in America, live in America without fear of deportation, work in America, go to school in America, is so reprehensible to the Republicans in the House and Senate, they are prepared to jeopardize the funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which protects America.

I have come to the floor on more than 50 occasions to tell the story of these DREAMers, which I will do again this morning.

I ask my Republican colleagues in the House and the Senate to listen to the story of a DREAMer and tell me: Do you believe the person I am about to describe should be deported from America?

His name is Pablo da Silva. He was brought here from Brazil in 2001 when he was 13 years old. Pablo grew up in New Jersey. This is what he said about his childhood:

The same as every other kid growing up in the U.S., I attended middle school, pledged allegiance to the American flag, and sang the National Anthem. As I grew older, I came to understand that one thing about me differed from my classmates. I was undocumented. However, my parents always taught me to see barriers as a measure of perseverance and an opportunity to thrive.

Pablo's dream was to become a doctor. During high school and college, he volunteered at nursing homes every week. He was a member of a group called Doctor Red Nose. That is where he and others would dress up like clowns visiting hospitals and nursing homes to cheer up the patients and health care providers.

Pablo was accepted at Rutgers University, one of our Nation's best. But because Pablo was undocumented, he didn't qualify for any financial assistance. He would have had to pay out-of-State tuition. So he couldn't afford Rutgers. Pablo enrolled in a community college. Because he had taken community college courses when he was in high school, Pablo was able to complete a 2-year associate's degree in only 1 year.

With an associate's degree in hand, Pablo was able to transfer to Kean University in New Jersey. In 2011, Pablo da Silva graduated at the top of his class with a major in biology, summa cum laude. He received an award for the highest grade point average in the biology department. He was on the dean's list every semester of college and a member of the honor society Phi Kappa Phi.

Remember, this is the person whom the Republicans in the House and the Senate want to deport from the United States and refuse to fund the Department of Homeland Security until this DREAMer is deported.

After graduating from college, Pablo da Silva was unable to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor. He couldn't go to medical school as an undocumented person, so he worked in a variety of manual labor jobs.

In 2012, President Obama established DACA, and then Pablo heard something amazing. Loyola University of Chicago was prepared to accept students who had received DACA into its medical school.

Like many States across the country, Illinois has a shortage of physicians in inner city and rural areas. Loyola University's DACA Program is an opportunity to address this problem.

The State of Illinois has created a DACA loan program. Under this program, Loyola's DACA medical students can receive loans to help cover the cost of medical education. For every year of loans, every year they get loans to go to medical school, these students must work for 1 year in a medically underserved area in my State of Illinois.

It is quite a tradeoff--1 year of medical school for 1 year of professional life as a doctor helping people who have no access to doctors. As a result, an amazing thing happened. Some of the best and brightest students in America have come to Loyola to get a medical education, and they have signed up to stay in Illinois to serve the parts of our State where the people I represent are desperate for a doctor.

Last fall, Pablo da Silva began medical school at Loyola where he is pursuing his dream of becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon. He wrote me a letter and this is what he said about the DACA Program:

DACA has allowed me to fulfill my long-lasting aspiration to pursue a career in medicine. It has truly changed my future and for that I'm truly grateful. I'm eager to contribute my share to the country I call my own.

When you read this letter, you stop and think, how can the Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate have made this man their enemy? How can they look at this young man, who has struggled throughout his life to obtain an education--who has overcome the odds, who has volunteered time and again in his community, who is willing to work in underserved medical areas--how can they look at this man and say he is the enemy?

The Republicans in the House and Senate fear Pablo da Silva more than they fear the extremist terrorist groups. They fear this DREAMer, and they are willing to give short-term funding to a Federal agency to make their point.

If the House Republicans and some in the Senate have their way, Pablo da Silva won't be able to finish medical school. He won't become a doctor. And if they have their way and deport him--which is what the House bill calls on us to do--my State is going to be denied a doctor in a medically underserved area.

We are a nation of immigrants. My mother was an immigrant to this country. I believe immigrants have brought so much to America, not just in hard work--and they take the toughest jobs--but also this risk taking that is involved in immigration. They are willing to put it all on the line.

In my case, my grandparents came here with my mom, when she was a little girl, to a country where they barely spoke the language and knew a handful of people. They made a life, raised a family, and I was lucky to be part of it. And I am honored to stand on the floor of the Senate today.

That is my story, that is my family's story, and that is America's story. That is the story of Pablo da Silva.

Why are the Republicans at war with this young man? Why do they think that stopping his opportunity to go to medical school and serve America is in the best interests of our Nation? It certainly isn't.

Yesterday the Senate assistant majority leader said on the floor that DACA ``kicked the people who played by the rules to the back of the line and the people who did not to the front of the line.''

Here is the reality: The President's immigration action simply puts a temporary hold on the deportation of low-priority cases like immigrant students such as Pablo da Silva. It doesn't put the DREAMers or any other undocumented immigrants in the same line as legal immigrants, and it doesn't put any legal immigrants at the back of the line. Only Congress can do that.

Speaking of Congress, it is important to note that in 2013 this Senate passed comprehensive immigration reform with a strong vote of 68 to 32. Republicans and Democrats voted for it.

For the remainder of that Congress, the year 2013 and 2014--more than 1 1/2 years--the Republican House of Representatives refused to allow a vote on the Senate's immigration reform bill, refused to call their own bill, refused to take any action. It was at that moment when the President stepped forward and said: I have to do something with this broken immigration system.

Instead of slowing down the appropriations to the Department of Homeland Security, I wish to remind the majority leader and the Speaker of the obvious. They are in control. They have the majority. They can call immigration issues before the Senate and the House at a moment's notice. We are prepared--prepared--to debate those immigration issues, but we are not prepared to do that, engage in that important debate, at the expense of funding the Department of Homeland Security.

Now we are going to waste a week of the Senate's time--a week when we could pass the Shaheen-Mikulski bill and fund this Department, a week when we could initiate the debate on immigration, a week when the Republicans can come forward with their own immigration ideas, if they have any, other than deporting Pablo da Silva. They can come forward now, but they refuse to.

They want to make this political point with the President, but they do it at the expense of the safety and security of America, and they do it at the expense of DREAMers such as Pablo da Silva.

Every time we have tried to pass comprehensive immigration reform, the Republicans have said no.

Every student of American history can tell us that anti-immigration parties eventually wither and die. We are a nation of immigrants.

There are some on the Republican side who understand that, and they can't really explain why the Grand Old Party, the Republican Party, is turning its back on immigrants in a nation of immigrants. That is their policy. They are so determined to pursue it they are willing to jeopardize the appropriations for one of the most important agencies of our government, the Department of Homeland Security.

The President has used his legal authority to bring some fairness to our broken immigration system. If the Republicans think they can do it better, they have every right as the majority party in the House and the Senate to offer legislation.

But with the Homeland Security Department facing a shutdown in just 3 weeks, we don't have time for these symbolic votes in the House bill on the floor. Turn to page 15, I say to the majority leader, of the Calendar of Business of the Senate, and you will find the answer to your question. You will find the way to fund the Department of Homeland Security in a responsible way.

What the majority leader should do is to swallow his pride, call Mr. Boehner and say: Your idea is not going to fly in the Senate. It is time for us to fund this agency. It is time to understand that as resolute as the terrorists are in harming innocent people and threatening America, America should be as resolute in fighting them back.

The first line of defense is the Department of Homeland Security. It is time to fund it. We could do it in a matter of minutes this morning if the majority leader would simply call to the floor this clean appropriations bill.

I yield the floor.

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