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

Floor Speech

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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I thank Senator Mikulski. She has been
joined by Senator Shaheen, both of whom have been leading this very
important bill to pass this funding for Homeland Security. I thought
the points Senator Mikulski made were so well taken about the fact that
there has been a new development since we left this Chamber; that is,
that the courts are taking on some of the immigration provisions our
colleagues have been trying to attach to this bill.

I would hope they could look at this in a fresh way now and see that
we should just simply allow this bill to go forward while the courts
are considering this matter. To me, that is the answer. I do not think
they should see it--our colleagues on the other side--as a concession.
It is simply a fact. It is something that has changed. So I come to the
floor to talk about the importance of the Mikulski-Shaheen bill. The
critical importance of this funding has been driven home in the last
few days in my State, the State of Minnesota.

Just this weekend the terrorist group al-Shabaab released a video
encouraging attacks on shopping malls throughout the world--a shopping
mall in Minnesota, the Mall of America, a shopping mall in Canada, in
Edmonton, a shopping mall in London. I do not think we could ever think
they would be limited in their threats when it comes to shopping malls
in America.

This is the same terrorist group that actually carried out a major
attack on a shopping mall in Kenya, killing more than 60 people. It has
also called for attacks, as I said, in other countries. In this video,
an al-Shabaab spokesman bragged about his previous attacks and the
chaos future attacks can cause. He talks about if just a handful of
fighters could bring Kenya to a complete stop for weeks, he talks about
what they could do to--in his words, obviously not mine--American- or
Jewish-owned shopping centers across the world.

That is what we saw this weekend. That is what the people in my State
awoke to. They awoke to that video and those words. I spoke yesterday
with Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, with our U.S. attorney
for Minnesota, Andy Luger. We are working with the FBI, and they have
boosted the security at the Mall of America. It already had good
security. We have fine law enforcement in Minnesota on the Federal,
State, and local levels.

The FBI has advised people, clearly, to go on with their lives in
Minnesota. The Homeland Security Secretary has clearly said people
shouldn't be discouraged from going to the mall in any way.

So the people in my State are standing tall when it comes to this
threat, and our law enforcement is standing tall when it comes to this
threat, but in Congress our message to these terrorists cannot be that
we are going to shut down the Department of Homeland Security. That
cannot be the message coming from the Senate of the United States of
America.

Rather than acting to protect my State from the threat, there are
people who are actively contemplating a shutdown of the Department of
Homeland Security--the Department we created after 9/11 to protect our
homeland, to protect our country from these kinds of terrorist threats.

This would mean--if it was to go forward and we weren't to fund it
this week--over 1,700 Department of Homeland Security employees in
Minnesota would be forced to work without pay or be furloughed,
including 472 Customs and Border Patrol personnel, 953 Transportation
Security Administration officers, 156 Immigration and Customs
Enforcement personnel, and 74 Federal Emergency Management Agency
personnel.

We need to act to fund Homeland Security. Think of the people in my
State who were going to spend a normal day going to the mall, waking up
to see that video. Think about the fact that I have to tell them there
are people messing around with this bill over extraneous provisions
that are now being battled out in court--and not on a bill that funds
our Homeland Security.

Now we also know terrorist organizations such as al-Shabaab and ISIS
are trying to recruit people in my State to take up arms and do harm to
Americans.

Why do we know that? The first American who was killed fighting for
ISIS in Syria was from Minnesota. His name was Douglas McAuthur McCain.
We also know our law enforcement, because they have worked so well with
our Somali community--we are so proud of that community. We have half
the Somalis in the Nation in the State of Minnesota.

They were able to work with our law enforcement over the last few
years. Twenty people were indicted. Twenty people were indicted for
helping al-Shabaab or trying to go over to fight on the terrorists'
side. We have already had nine convictions in Minnesota.

Those convictions would not have happened without this community.
This Muslim community basically said: We don't want our kids to go over
and be suicide bombers. We don't want our kids to go fight next to
ISIS.

That community has worked with law enforcement in Minnesota and they
will continue to work with law enforcement. We have already had four
people from the Twin Cities area who have been charged for crimes
relating to travel for the purpose of going to aid ISIS.

But it is not only our national security that the people in my State
see as at stake here. I know Senator Shaheen, who is on the floor, is
also from a border State and understands how important that work is as
we go up to our northern neighbor of Canada. This is 5,500 miles--the
longest border in the world. Over 400,000 people and nearly $2 billion
in goods and services cross our borders every day.

That is economically significant for my State. Canada is my State's
top international trading partner, with over $19 billion in total
business across the board. Over 1 million Canadians visit Minnesota
every year--by the way, many of them going to the Mall of America--
contributing $265 million to the local economy.

But that relationship relies on a seamless U.S.-Canadian border, with
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol keeping that border secure and
efficiently screening all cross-border traffic. We have made important
strides in recent years with trusted traveler programs to make our
northern border more secure, while encouraging the cross-border tourism
and commerce that is the lifeblood of my State. Withholding critical
funding from the Department of Homeland Security could threaten that
progress, leading to a less secure border and hindering economic
opportunity.

Without that critical funding, we risk security. Even a cursory look
at world headlines shows the threats the United States and our allies
face--from the terrorist attacks in Paris and Sydney to the cyber
attacks by North Korea. We need to be stepping up our security, not
stepping down our security.

So last night I spoke to a group of workers--about 500 Minnesotans--
who were honored in the city of Bloomington, MN, for the work they do
in the hospitality industry. These were desk clerks, these were pizza
delivery people, these were people who man our hotels and clean the
rooms when we have guests. Many of them work in that Mall of America,
and I told them I was coming back to Washington and that this Senate
would stand tall in the face of threats such as videos from al-Shabaab,
people who will not even show their faces but make a video to threaten
our country.

We have to show our faces. We have to stand tall. We now have a very
good reason--my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. I implore
them, they have a good reason. This is in the courts now. It is being
battled in the courts. These extraneous measures should not be on this
bill and we should fund our Homeland Security. I want to go back and
tell those workers in Bloomington and in Minnesota that we have done
that.

I yield the floor.

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