Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2015
Floor Speech
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Mrs. DINGELL. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 240, the
Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2015. Without further action by
Congress, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will face a
shutdown on February 28, 2015. Everyone agrees DHS should receive
robust funding to carry out their mission of keeping the American
people safe, and I'm pleased to see there is bipartisan, bicameral
agreement on funding levels for the agency. However, I am very
disappointed that the Republican majority had decided to add poison-
pill amendments to this legislation related to the President's actions
on immigration. This is putting the American people at risk and is
unacceptable.
Global tensions remain high following the terrorist attacks in
France, and we should not be letting down our guard at this critical
time. Yet this is exactly what we are doing by passing H.R. 240 today.
This legislation has no chance of being signed into law, as President
Obama has already said he would veto the bill. If my friends on the
other side of the aisle are so concerned about immigration, they should
work with Democrats in a bipartisan manner on comprehensive immigration
reform. I stand ready to work with them on this critical issue.
I want to address the DeSantis Amendment to this legislation. As a
woman who is active on domestic violence issues, I will always do
everything in my power to protect victims of abuse. However, this
amendment is misleading and I am afraid it could have unintended
consequences if adopted. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops stated
that this amendment would discourage victims of domestic violence from
reporting abuse to the proper authorities. I also spoke with domestic
violence groups in Michigan, and they have pointed out the unintended
consequences of this amendment as well. We need to make it easier to
report incidents of domestic violence, not harder, which is why I am
opposing the DeSantis amendment today.
In the meantime, we should pass a clean DHS appropriations bill so
the operations of this critical department can continue uninterrupted.
Their mission is simply too important to jeopardize. I urge my
colleagues to join me in opposing H.R. 240.
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