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

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I rise to highlight the importance of
voting yes to proceed to the Department of Homeland Security
appropriations bill for 2015, H.R. 240. This bill, which has passed the
House, is necessary to protect our borders, fight terrorism, and defend
communities under threat from natural disasters. The list of national
security-related programs this bill provides resources for is long, but
before I speak to those programs in greater detail, I will reinforce
the importance of proceeding to this DHS appropriations bill.

DHS's funding expires on February 27. To my colleagues on the other
side of the aisle who do not want to proceed to this bill, I would just
point out, we need to take up this DHS appropriations funding bill and
debate it--to let the Senate do its work.

We just passed a Keystone bill after the consideration of more than
40 amendments. At the end of the day, we were able to produce a bill
that garnered 62 votes. I urge my colleagues to let the Senate do its
business. Vote yes on cloture on the motion to proceed.

Now I would like to walk through some of the things this bill funds.
I want to remind my colleagues how critical these DHS operations are to
the economic prosperity, public safety, and security of the American
people.

The bill provides $39.67 billion in net discretionary appropriations
plus $6.4 billion in disaster funding.

Let's take a look at some of the critical security functions this
bill provides.

The bill provides $10.7 billion for Customs and Border Protection--an
increase of $119 million over fiscal year 2014. It supports record
levels of personnel, tactical infrastructure, technology, and air and
marine assets, including 21,370 Border Patrol agents; 23,775 Customs
and Border Protection officers; miles of fencing and border roads;
fixed and mobile surveillance and detection technology; aircraft and
vessels outfitted with the latest sensor technology, as well as unmanned aerial systems; reused technology from the Department of
Defense, such as tethered aerostat radar systems.

The bill also includes funding for a biometric exit pilot program in
airports in 2015, as well as improvements to the Department's biometric
system to support exit implementation in the future.

The bill provides $5.96 billion for Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, ICE--an increase of $689 million over fiscal year 2014,
which is a 13-percent increase.

It holds the administration's feet to the fire by maintaining a
record 34,000 adult detention beds.

It responds to the recent flood of families coming across our border
by significantly increasing family detention beds from 96 to 3,828.

It provides increases for the criminal alien program and for fugitive
operations, both of which are critical to identifying, apprehending,
and removing the criminals that the administration claims are a
priority.

The bill provides increases for Homeland Security Investigations to
combat human trafficking, cyber crime, child exploitation, and drug
smuggling.

It also includes $50 million for the Visa Security Program and
supports enforcement to address visa overstays.

In addition, the bill provides strong support for the Secret Service,
an organization that requires reform and congressional oversight, given
recent incidents, with $81 million above fiscal year 2014.

In addition to funding increases associated with preparations for the
2016 campaign season, the bill provides $25 million to begin addressing
security needs at the White House complex.

Recognizing the need for a state-of-the-art biosafety level 4
research facility to prepare for and respond to animal-borne and other
biologic threats, this bill provides the funding necessary to construct
the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility.

The bill provides more than $10 billion for the Coast Guard. It
continues our commitment to recapitalization of the Coast Guard fleet,
including funding the 8th National Security Cutter. And it takes a
serious step to address nearer term heavy ice breaker needs with $8
million for preserving the Polar Sea.

The bill supports our cyber security efforts as a nation, both
protecting government systems and working with the private sector to
share threat information and protective measures.

Since homeland security is a national effort, the bill continues
funding for grant programs to State and local firefighters, emergency
managers, and law enforcement--$467 million for State homeland security
grants, including $55 million for Operation Stonegarden related to
border security; $800 million for the Urban Area Security Initiative,
port security grants, and transit security grants; $680 million for
fire assistance grants; $350 million for Emergency Management Program
grants.

For research and development efforts, funding is provided consistent
with fiscal year 2014 levels. The Science and Technology Directorate
supports research and development at our national labs, with our
university partners, and in the private sector to meet homeland
security needs.

The bill also provides for aviation security screening operations by
the TSA, law enforcement training needs by the Federal Law Enforcement
Training Center, and E-Verify, which supports businesses across the
United States in hiring legal workers.

Finally, the bill provides the requested almost $7 billion for the
Disaster Relief Fund to assist with recovery costs for communities hit
by natural disasters.

What the bill does not fund is the President's Executive actions. The
House bill includes several amendments that are targeted at reversing
the President's actions and articulating priorities for immigration
enforcement.

The President's actions overstepped his authority. His actions put
illegal immigrants ahead of legal immigrants who are hoping to be a
part of the American dream, who are following and respecting the
Nation's laws.

The immigration system is broken, but it cannot be fixed through
Executive actions that exceed the President's authority. Instead, it
should be accomplished through legislative reforms that start with
border security, do not provide amnesty, and respect the rule of law.

I leave my colleagues with this thought: We need to support these
vital national security programs. Vote yes on cloture on the motion to
proceed to this bill, and let's get to work.

With that, I yield the floor.

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Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, she and I will be continuing to work
together on this and other important issues, but the reality is that we
need to proceed to this bill so that we can get the funding in place.

Let's proceed to the bill. Let's have the debate. Let's have
amendments. Let's do the work of the Senate on this important
legislation. That is why we need a ``yes'' on this cloture motion to
proceed--so we can get on this funding bill and go to work, have
debate, have amendments, and do the work of the Senate on funding DHS,
which is very important for our country.

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