Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2015

Floor Speech

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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, here we are again where we were last
Monday with about 5 days left before funding runs out for the
Department of Homeland Security. So if it feels like ``Groundhog Day,''
it is because it is ``Groundhog Day,'' and we just can't keep playing
those kinds of games with this agency's funding.

Those who are blocking action on the funding bill for the Department
of Homeland Security have a clear choice: Are they going to prioritize
politics or are they going to prioritize national security?

Last Friday the Senate passed a bill with 68 bipartisan votes--a bill
that fully funds the Department of Homeland Security without any
controversial riders attached to the bill. I am ever hopeful that the
House will follow our lead and immediately take up that clean Senate
bill. We cannot, we should not replay the chaos we saw last week. The
brinksmanship really needs to end. It is time for Congress to pass the
Department of Homeland Security funding bill.

Whether it is threats to the Mall of America in Minnesota, plots
foiled by DHS and the FBI in New York City, attacks on our cyber
networks, or threats at our Nation's borders, we live during a time
when the safety and security of this country are at risk. We cannot
play politics with the agency that is tasked with keeping us safe, and
we shouldn't play politics with the funding that supports our first
responders--the very people who are there anytime something happens in
our States and our local communities. What must our enemies think when
they see Congress fighting over whether to keep the Department of
Homeland Security open?

Last week DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson wrote a letter to the
congressional leadership, and I ask unanimous consent to have printed
in the Record the letter from Secretary Johnson.

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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, the following is a quote from the letter
the Secretary wrote:

It is stunning that we must even contemplate a shutdown of
the Department in the current global context. The global
terrorist threat has become more decentralized and complex.
Terrorist organizations are now openly calling for attacks on
western targets.

The Secretary also noted how taxing the current funding crisis has
been on the agency and the employees who put their lives on the line
every day to protect the Nation. He said the following in his letter:

These working men and women depend on biweekly paychecks to
make ends meet for themselves and their families. For them,
personally, work without pay is disruptive and demoralizing.

I can't imagine anyone here thinks people should be expected to go to
work--many of them putting their lives on the line--without getting
paid. Last week DHS officials had to prepare shutdown plans. They had
to give employees notice that they might be furloughed or they might
not get paid.

At a time when resources should be spent protecting the Nation,
spending them dealing with a possible shutdown just doesn't make sense.
None of us would run our households that way. The private sector
doesn't run business that way. We shouldn't run government that way.
Instead of focusing on critical missions such as securing the border,
counterterrorism efforts, and maritime security, DHS officials have
been consumed with the threat of a shutdown of their agency. That is
not the way we should be doing business. It is making our Nation less
safe.

It is time for the House to end this brinksmanship. It is time for
the House to vote on the bipartisan bill the Senate passed last week.
We came together in the Senate under the leadership of Senator
McConnell and Senator Reid, and I applaud their working together across
party lines to pass a bill that funds DHS for the rest of the year.
That is what the American people expect of us. They expect us to work
together to address the challenges facing this country. They want us to
get things done, not to play politics and certainly not to jeopardize
our country's safety and security.

I hope that the House will follow the Senate's lead, that they will
pass a bipartisan bill to keep the Department of Homeland Security on
the job for the remainder of this year.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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