Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2015

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. NADLER. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of a clean Homeland Security appropriations bill.

We are just a week into the new Congress, and the Republicans are
already back to their old games, but this time, they are playing
politics with the security and safety of the Nation.

We get it. They are frustrated with the President's executive order
which attempts to reunite families and bring a rational, priority-based
approach to our immigration system. Given the Constitution, the laws,
and the legal precedents, the President's actions are clearly well
within his executive powers.

If they don't like it, they can pass an immigration bill, which would
clearly supercede the actions of the President, but they wouldn't even
try. That is what this is all about. It is about making false
statements about the President, demonizing immigrants and their
families, and trying to score political points back home. That is a
disgrace, but it gets even worse.

Not only are the Republicans stalling on immigration reform and
leaving millions of families in limbo, but they are holding up funding
for the entire Homeland Security Department. They are threatening the
safety of Americans at our airports. They are making our borders less
secure and are potentially leaving us more vulnerable to attack. This
is particularly shocking, given the tragic events in Paris last week.

Holding the security of the American people hostage to the demands of
the anti-immigration fringe of their party is totally irresponsible.
This is not the time for political games. We live in a dangerous world,
and the security of the Nation is serious business. Reject this
political stunt.

Pass a clean Homeland Security bill that we all agree on. Then, if
you want to, pass an immigration bill that would supersede what the
President has done; but don't give us all of this nonsense about
blackmailing the country by threatening our safety and saying, ``Unless
we get the immigration provisions we want,'' which we know the
President won't sign, ``there will be no Homeland Security bill,
potentially no Homeland Security Department funding, and no guards at
our borders.'' That is absurd.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source