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

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I am pleased to follow my esteemed
colleagues from the State of Florida and the State of New Hampshire in
discussing the legislation before this body. I worked with the Senator
from New Hampshire on the Homeland Security Appropriations
Subcommittee, and we are working to fund Homeland Security. That is
what this bill does. The bill we are trying to proceed to fully funds
Homeland Security.

My question is, How do we finish a bill if we can't start? All we are
asking for is to proceed to a bill that fully funds the Department of
Homeland Security. So I have been listening to my colleagues talk about
the need to fund Homeland Security and that is exactly what this bill
does--fully funds the bill.

Now I understand they want to make changes to the bill, but again I
ask the question how do they make changes to a bill if they are not
willing to proceed to the bill, get on the bill, debate the bill, and
offer their amendments?

So that is where we find ourselves and that is why it is so important
that we proceed to this DHS funding bill. This is a bill that has
passed the House.

At the end of the day, both Houses of Congress have to pass the bill.
We can't just pass it in the Senate and they can't just pass it in the
House. The House has passed this bill.

Now we need to take it up. We need to have the debate, we need to
offer amendments, have votes on those amendments, and pass the bill--
pass the bill that fully funds DHS. Again, I emphasize, this bill fully
funds the Department of Homeland Security.

We are ready to legislate. We are willing to go back and forth on
amendments, one Democratic amendment for every Republican amendment,
but when that was offered last week on this floor by the majority
leader, it was rejected by the other side of the aisle.

This leads me to believe that what my Democratic colleagues are
asking for is that the only DHS funding legislation the Senate consider
is legislation endorsed by the President. Moreover, they don't seem to
be interested in amendments, in allowing the Senators and those
Americans--whom we represent--to have a voice in this process.

My colleagues know that is not how the Senate works. When our
Founders sought to build a government of checks and balances, with a
strong legislative branch and mechanisms to prevent the Executive, the
President, from imposing his or her will on the rest of government, I
doubt this is what they had in mind; that we simply rubberstamp what
the President wants.

Today's cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the DHS
appropriations bill offers all Senators a choice. We have a choice
today. Senators can choose to legislate a solution to this DHS funding
impasse to prevent a DHS shutdown or they can choose to defend the
President's Executive action.

That is exactly what is going on. As Senators we must be willing to
engage with one another to pass a bill. We must be willing to engage,
to debate, and to vote on amendments.

Often there are many sides to an issue. In fact, sometimes it feels
as though there are 100 different perspectives, and of course there
are. But the ability to merge our diverse viewpoints into legislation,
that is the strength of the Senate. That is the only way, short of one
party possessing 60 votes, the Senate can function. Many of our friends
on the other side of the aisle are asking this body to rubberstamp the
President's approach, but the Senate was not intended to be a
rubberstamp. We must be willing to take that first step toward funding
DHS together, and that first step is proceeding to a bill. In order to
consider amendments and develop consensus, we simply must be able to
move to the legislation and consider it on the floor today.

Let me remind my colleagues why this funding is so vital.

The Department is responsible for so many essential security
programs. I think it is important that we take a few minutes to talk
about the funding that is in this bill, full funding for the Department
of Homeland Security.

This bill provides $10.7 billion for Customs and Border Protection,
CBP, including record levels of personnel, tactical infrastructure,
technology, and air and marine assets. It provides $5.96 billion for
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, and maintains a record 34,000 adult detention beds and 3,828 family detention beds.

This bill strongly supports the vital missions of the Secret Service
and provides for our cyber security efforts. The bill provides more
than $10 billion for the Coast Guard for its many missions, including
search and rescue.

Since Homeland Security is a national effort, the bill continues
critical funding for grant programs to State and local firefighters,
emergency managers, and law enforcement. The bill also provides for
research and development, TSA's aviation security screening operations,
the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, and E-Verify, which
supports businesses across the United States in hiring legal workers.

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Mr. HOEVEN. This bill does not fund the President's Executive
actions--and rightly so.

Since we haven't had regular order in this Chamber in years, it seems
there may be some reluctance to allow the Senate to work as it is
designed to do: to proceed to legislation so that we, as a legislative
body, can engage in a healthy debate. It is time the Senate proceed to
the DHS appropriations bill without further delay. I urge my colleagues
to vote to proceed to H.R. 240, the DHS appropriations bill.

With that, I yield the floor.

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