Heitkamp Statement on Senate Vote on Clean Bill to Fully Fund Homeland Security

Statement

U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today issued the following statement after she voted for a clean bill to fully fund the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which she has continued to call for Congress to do to make sure American families are safe and protected.

"As I have said, we cannot politicize our national security, and after too many political games which only hurt Congress and have the potential to impact the safety of American communities and families, today the Senate finally voted on a clean bill to fully fund our homeland security. Once again, it is now up to the House to do the right thing for our nation's security and pass this bill," said Heitkamp. "Then, separately, I had hoped to have a debate about immigration reform -- a long overdue conversation as our immigration system is broken and must be fixed. But let's be clear, the bill put forward is not comprehensive immigration reform. It is not a serious attempt to fix our broken system, fails to address the major issues needed to overhaul the system, and increases the deficit by more than $6 billion. In December, I called on Senate and House leadership to bring up a vote on the bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform bill the Senate passed in 2013, which the House repeatedly failed to act on. When Congress debates immigration reform, that bill certainly should be part of the discussion.

"Again, Congress has waited until a deadline to act. We cannot operate this way. We put our security and American families in jeopardy by failing to provide certainty that Congress will do its job. And efforts by House Republicans to put off the deadline for another three weeks will still have severe impacts on our homeland security. House Republicans had the opportunity to act in the last Congress on comprehensive immigration reform and could have avoided this entire mess. Our country deserves better."

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