Supporting a Clean DHS Funding Bill

Floor Speech

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Ms. CLARKE of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise to draw the attention of
the House on the dangerous position in which my Republican colleagues
have placed the American people by refusing to fund the Department of
Homeland Security.

Republicans in the House of Representatives voted in January to fund
DHS only if we threaten millions of undocumented parents and children
with deportation. Unless Republicans stop playing games with our
national security and vote to fund DHS, the agency will not have the
ability to maintain critical operations by the end of February.

We have a responsibility to demonstrate to the people of the United
States and the leaders of other nations that we are capable of
supporting national security without concern for politics. The partisan
interests that have convinced many Republicans to oppose the Obama
administration on immigration are not in the interest of our nation as
a whole. The position of the Republicans imposes serious risks on the
American people. The failure to fund DHS, as President Obama has
recently reminded us, will impact one hundred forty-three thousand
Department of Homeland Security workers who are responsible for the
safety of our families and children. In New York City, DHS resources
support our police and fire departments to protect the city and the
millions of visitors from around the world from attacks. Undermining
the funding of the DHS threatens their safety and the security of our
communities across the nation. House Republicans should not hold our
national security hostage to a narrow agenda.

In the community I represent in Brooklyn, New York, the many first-
generation and second-generation immigrants will suffer irreparable
harm if we fail to fund the DHS. Who among would want to know the fear
that a knock on the door in the middle of the night or a citation for a
minor infraction such as jaywalking could result in permanent
separation from their children?

Mr. Speaker, instead of playing games with politics, Republicans
should focus on avoiding a shutdown of the DHS by enacting a bipartisan
bill to fund the DHS through the rest of the 2015 fiscal year.

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