Department of Homeland Security Funding
Floor Speech
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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I appreciate the remarks from the
Senators from Missouri and New York because I think they reflect my
sentiments as well. The senior Senator from Texas suggested that we
don't want to debate immigration. We are happy to debate immigration.
In fact, I would love to debate immigration reform with our colleagues.
But the bill before us is not about immigration reform. It is about
whether we are going to fund the Department of Homeland Security. The
fact is many of the issues the senior Senator from Texas raised about
immigration were addressed in the comprehensive immigration reform bill
this body passed in 2013. I am happy to go back to that debate, but
that debate should not come in place of our willingness to fund
national security and the Department of Homeland Security. That is the
issue that is before us today, and we should not hold up our
willingness to fund the Department because there are certain Members of
the Republican Party in the House and Senate who want to talk about the
President's Executive action. This bill is not about that. It is about
whether we are going to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
I thought it might be instructive to point out some of the changes
Congress has made which are included in this bill and which actually
strengthen border security, since that is one of the concerns that has
been raised. Over the past 10 years, Congress has gone to extraordinary
lengths to secure our borders against the threat of smugglers, of human
traffickers, and of illegal immigrants.
Since 2005 the combined budgets for Customs and Border Protection and
Immigration and Customs Enforcement have grown by an astounding 97
percent--97 percent--from about $8.5 billion in 2005 to more than $16.7
billion today.
In fact, the combined budgets for these two border security agencies
now account for more than 42 percent of the entire discretionary
appropriations of the Department of Homeland Security. But Congress
just hasn't thrown money at the problem. We have made wise investments
to ensure our borders are more secure than they have ever been.
Since 2011 Congress has steadily maintained 21,370 Border Patrol
agents. That more than doubles the size of this force since 2001. Over
the past 2 years Congress has added 2,000 Customs officers to help stop
the flow of illegal drugs and prevent human trafficking while still
facilitating legitimate trade.
I have been to the San Ysidro border crossing in San Diego. I have
seen the advanced technologies that have been implemented to make sure
that legitimate trade can get across the border yet stop those people
who are coming illegally.
Congress has deployed enhanced border security technology, including
integrated fixed towers, remote and mobile video surveillance systems,
tethered aerostats, and other technology to secure our southern border.
We have also funded the construction of 652 miles of vehicle and
pedestrian fencing at critical locations determined by the Border
Patrol agents on the ground. The Department's ability to detect illegal
border traffic has grown substantially due to simultaneous investments
in airborne assets, including Blackhawk helicopters, multirole
enforcement aircraft, and surveillance planes critical in the war
against drugs, as well as nine unmanned, unarmed Predator aerial
systems.
Since 2011 Congress has provided more than $721 million above the
President's request for these important airborne assets that strengthen
our border security. In the bipartisan full-year budget that Senator
Mikulski and Congressman Rogers negotiated last December--the same bill
that Senator Mikulski and I have introduced in this session of the
Senate--we included those critical investments made to continue those
efforts to secure the border. These investments will not occur or they
are going to be delayed if we have a short-term budget, if we continue
with a continuing resolution and, heaven forbid, if we shut down the
Department of Homeland Security, which some of the Members of this body
and the House have suggested is not a problem for us to do.
The clean bill includes a $119 million increase for Customs and
Border Protection. This is the funding level that supports the largest
operational force levels in history--21,370 Border Patrol agents and
23,775 CBP officers. The agreement restores funding cuts to CBP's
Office of Air and Marine proposed by the administration. That enables
them to fly more patrols along the border and to continue purchasing
critical assets.
The clean bill also increases funding for the border security,
fencing, infrastructure, and technology account by $20 million to
provide additional video surveillance systems and adapt surplus Defense
Department equipment for border security purposes.
For Customs and Border Protection, a short-term budget also means
that pending contracts for border security upgrades are going to be put
on hold. When I met last week with CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske, he
told me that $90 million in contracts for mobile and remote video
surveillance technology--the very technology that is going to help us
keep illegal aliens from coming across the border--is going to be put
on hold due to funding uncertainty.
A clean, full-year budget bill provides an increase of $700 million
for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency responsible for
apprehending and detaining undocumented immigrants in this country. If
we don't pass on full-year bill, ICE will have insufficient resources
to maintain a statutorily mandated level of 34,000 detention beds for
detaining illegal immigrants, the vast majority of which are criminals.
They are going to fall over 4,000 beds short of that mandated level
under a continuing resolution. Furthermore, they will have no funding
to complete construction and continue operating new family detention
facilities in Texas.
Now, 3,000 family detention beds are supposed to be completed in
Texas to deal with the surge of unaccompanied children and families to
the southwest border. The very people who are complaining about border
security, who are complaining about illegal immigrants coming into this
country are opposing the funding that would address that border
security. It makes no sense.
The bill also increases ICE's capability to engage in domestic and
international investigations with a $67 million increase for antihuman
smuggling and traffic activities, to combat cyber crime, to combat drug
smuggling, and to expand visa vetting capabilities. With a short-term
budget, a continuing resolution, these additional investments will not
be made. We should not be holding up this funding bill for the
Department of Homeland Security with critical border protections in it
because we have a few Members of the House and Senate who want to make
this an ideological battle about the President's Executive action.
Let's have that immigration debate, but this is not the place to do it.
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