The Future Forum

Floor Speech

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Mr. MOULTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Swalwell.

I think our Republican colleagues have a point, which is that we need
to have a debate about immigration. This is an issue facing our
country, it is a serious issue, and in many respects, it has reached
crisis proportions. We need to talk about it, we need to have that
debate, but it cannot be at the expense of our Nation's security.

I just returned from a weeklong trip to the Middle East--to Iraq, to
Afghanistan, to the UAE, to Kuwait, and to Jordan--to try to understand
the situation on the ground and especially the threat that ISIL or
Daesh poses to the United States of America.

I can tell you that that threat is serious and severe. There are
those who think that this will just be a Middle Eastern problem, that
it won't ever come to infect our homeland. I don't share that view. I
think it is a serious threat. ISIL has brutally killed Americans abroad
and made clear their intentions to kill Americans here at home.

That is the kind of protection from threats like that that the
Department of Homeland Security provides. We cannot put our Nation's
security at risk for a debate that is critical, that needs to happen,
but that is separate from keeping Americans safe.

Our most sacred responsibility as Members of Congress is to protect
our homeland. Right now, the partisan brinksmanship around funding the
Department of Homeland Security is putting that safety at risk.

I served my country for four tours in Iraq. I was proud to serve, I
was proud to go every time, but I don't want to see Americans have to
keep going back to that part of the world because we can't provide for
our security here at home.

We have a lot of work to do in this Congress, and a lot of it
requires bipartisan cooperation. Immigration is one of those issues. It
is an issue that we need to debate on the floor of the House.

We need to take up the Senate bill for comprehensive immigration
reform, debate its merits, and decide whether it does enough to ensure
the safety of our borders and the future of those who aspire to be
Americans, but none of that should happen at the expense of our
Nation's security.

The crisis that we are facing today is the result of partisan
politics that places the safety and the lives of the American people at
risk.

Last week I returned from a trip to the Middle East, and I learned
that the threat of a terrorist attack on the United States is real.
Terrorist organizations including ISIL pose a serious national security
threat and have made clear their intentions to commit acts of terrorism
both abroad and here at home.

Our number one responsibility as members of Congress is to prevent
that from happening and keep Americans safe.

Holding hostage the funding for the Department of Homeland Security
over the President's executive action on immigration is a disservice to
the men and women who put their lives on the line everyday both at home
and abroad to protect us all.

There is no doubt that Congress needs to address immigration reform.
It is an issue that is deserving of a debate and I look forward to
participating in that discussion with both Democrats and Republicans.
However, attaching immigration policy to this appropriations
legislation is simply irresponsible and hijacks the intellectual debate
that should take place on this Floor.

If you disagree with the President's actions, then let's have that
debate.

However, with such threats to the security of the American people,
now is not the time to play political games with an agency that is
charged with protecting the homeland from acts of terrorism.

If Congress fails to fund the Department of Homeland Security,
agencies and grant programs critical to the safety of Americans will no
longer be able to carry out the responsibilities that they were created
to uphold, including the TSA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and
the United States Coast Guard. 85% of all enlisted Coast Guard
personnel do not live on base--they cannot afford to miss a rent or
mortgage payment on their homes. Many Americans don't realize this, but
not only are Coast Guardsmen important to the safety of fishermen in my
home state of Massachusetts and to all coastal states, but they are
also deployed globally alongside our military in support of critical
national security missions.

When I was in Iraq, I needed to focus on the mission. For Coast Guard
personnel performing high-risk drug cartel interdictions or patrolling
the Persian Gulf, we needed their 100% focus on the mission at hand. So
last summer when an Iranian boat aimed a 50 caliber machine gun at
American Coast Guardsmen deployed in international waters in the
Persian Gulf, those are the American men and women in harm's way who
would still be required to put their lives on the line despite not
receiving a paycheck so that their families at home can put food on the
table and pay rent.

In my home state of Massachusetts, we recently experienced a series
of historic snow storms that resulted in record-breaking snow
accumulation and caused millions of dollars in damages to homes,
business and roadways. Without the support of funding from FEMA,
Massachusetts will have to bear the brunt of the clean-up and repair
costs in spite of the likelihood that Massachusetts will be eligible
for federal disaster aid relief.

Further, failure to pass an appropriations bill for DHS would
furlough or deny payment to the 4,735 law enforcement officials,
disaster response officials and many other homeland security personnel
in Massachusetts.

Republicans know that the right thing to do is to fund the
department. This is why, earlier today, the Senate passed a clean bill
to fund the department.

This is not a partisan issue. This is an American issue. I implore
the Republicans to have the debate on immigration, and have it soon.
Talk about our differences there, but let's not put our citizens, our
country, and our allies at risk by holding funding for the Department
of Homeland Security hostage.

I'd like to thank my friend from California again for the opportunity
to speak this evening.

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Mr. MOULTON. What I hear from young people is they want the Congress
to get things done for the American people. Our job is to come here and
debate the important issues of the day, but, ultimately, it is to get
things accomplished, it is to pass bills, it is to make laws, it is to
fund important institutions of our government.

What people say is they want us to get it done. They want us to have
that debate on immigration reform, they want us to do that, too, but
they need funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

My generation has grown up under the threat that we came to face on
September 11. Many of my friends were in New York on that perilous day
and watched the planes crash into the World Trade Center towers. It is
a remarkable testament to the success of the Department of Homeland
Security that, over the past decade, we have not had another attack. It
is a remarkable achievement. We should not put that achievement at
risk.

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Mr. MOULTON. Thank you, Mr. Swalwell.

There is no question that their morale and their mission
effectiveness will be hurt. In fact, it will hurt my own morale because
I am very proud to serve in the United States Congress, but I am not
going to be proud to walk through that security gate and have to look them in the eye when they recognize that I am partly responsible,
as a Member of this body, for not giving them the basic pay that they
need for their families.

You know, another element of the Department of Homeland Security is
the U.S. Coast Guard, and many of us know that the U.S. Coast Guard
protects our shores. I represent the fishing community of Gloucester
north of Boston, and Gloucester has gone through some hard times and
has often had to rely on the Coast Guard to save its fishermen in the
worst storms. Those Coast Guardsmen not only protect fishermen in
Gloucester. They also work with our military and Department of Defense
overseas. There are Coast Guardsmen and -women stationed in the Middle
East today.

Can you imagine having to do such a difficult mission, to be in the
Persian Gulf defending American ships against the threat of an Iranian
attack and yet not knowing whether your rent will be paid back at home?
That is an unacceptable risk for us to take, and it is an unacceptable
burden for us to ask them to bear. You are absolutely right, sir, this
is going to severely impact their morale. When morale is impacted, it
hurts their ability to do this incredibly important job.

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Mr. MOULTON. Thank you, Mr. Swalwell.

You are absolutely right, because immigration is a debate that we
need to have. It is a national security debate in and of itself. We
cannot hold the Department of Homeland Security hostage to that debate.
It needs to occur. We ought to have that debate. We ought to have it
here on the floor of the House. But our most sacred responsibility and
the present threat here is to make sure that our people are safe.

I want to thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania, my friend and
colleague, Mr. Boyle, for bringing up the issue of FEMA grants. We have
been faced with unprecedented snowfall in Massachusetts, and it has put
our first responders to the test. They are providing for the security
of the people of Massachusetts right now, and we are all banding
together to make sure that we get the FEMA grants that we need and
deserve. In fact, it is a great example of a crisis that is bringing
Republicans and Democrats together. The Democratic delegation of
Massachusetts is working hand in hand with our Republican Governor to
make sure that we get these applications in so that we can get this
funding that we desperately need. Yet that is all going to grind to a
halt if the Department of Homeland Security is not funded.

Right here, today, we can see the effects that failing to fund the
Department, shutting it down, will have. Even worse would be if we had
to see the effects of another attack on our homeland. Having been to
the Middle East in the past week, having seen the unprecedented
challenges that our first responders face at home, we cannot afford to
put our Nation's security at risk. All of the young people out there--
those who are our age in the Future Forum--want a government that
works. They want a government they can believe in, and they want a
government that will make them safe.

Let's pass a clean funding bill. Let's fund the Department of
Homeland Security. And let's show the American people that our Congress
can do its job.

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