Department of Homeland Security Funding

Floor Speech

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Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, let me thank Senator Shaheen for her
leadership on the Homeland Security bill. She has taken that over this
year and learned it, knows the ins and outs of it. She is someone who
truly cares about being fiscally responsible. She just recently pointed
out to our caucus that if we pass the House bill with all of the riders
in it, it would cost $7.5 billion more and put us $7.5 billion more
into debt, which I do not think is a fiscally responsible move. So we
should be taking a very hard look at these riders as they come through
from the House.

I have come to the floor to talk about how important it is for us to
pass a clean appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland
Security. I wish to talk about how failing to pass a bill will impact
the southern border, impact my State of New Mexico, where DHS plays a
vital role in security, in business, and in people's daily lives. The
men and women at DHS make sure commerce is conducted smoothly across
our border with Mexico. They make sure workers can get back and forth.
They inspect shipments coming into the country, and they protect our
communities from drug smugglers and crime.

It is inconceivable to me that Republicans would threaten to stop
funding this agency over a policy dispute with the President. I have
heard Republican leaders say the era of shutdowns was over, but here we
are again, rapidly approaching the date when DHS funding expires. We
need an appropriations bill that does not disrupt this important work.

I talk to New Mexicans who live in the border communities. I talk to
ranchers and farmers in my State. Border security is not theoretical.
It is not a political game. It is crucial to safety. It is crucial to
trade at our ports of entry, such as Santa Teresa and Columbus. In New
Mexico a shutdown of DHS is a threat to our security, to jobs, and to
our economy.

I have read some reports where congressional Republicans have said on
the record that a delay in funding DHS would not be a big deal. They
say most of the Department's employees are considered essential so they
would still be working at our borders and screening airline passengers.
That may be true, but those employees would not get paid. I am not
willing to tell our Border Patrol agents and TSA officers with families
to feed that they still need to go to work, but they are not going to
get paid because Washington cannot get its act together.

I know my constituents would feel a lot more secure in border
communities if the Border Patrol officers were getting paid rather than
worrying about their mortgages, their car payments, tuition payments,
and other household expenses. Despite the Republican claims that DHS
will not actually shut down, there would be significant consequences if
Congress failed to fund DHS.

Consider what would happen to the Federal Law Enforcement Training
Center, FLETC as they are called out in New Mexico. FLETC serves as the
law enforcement training academy for 96 Federal agencies. FLETC in
Artesia, NM, trains all of our Border Patrol agents and Bureau of
Indian Affairs police officers.

If we fail to fund DHS, FLETC training grinds to a halt. This will
impact every Federal agency whose law enforcement officers must
complete basic training before they can be deployed in their posts of
duty. A delay in training impacts securing the Nation's borders,
aviation security, protecting our Nation's leaders and diplomats,
securing Federal buildings, and other countless Federal law enforcement
activities.

The economic impact is huge. Over 3,000 students, 350 of them in
Artesia, NM, are expected to be in training at the end of February. If
DHS is not funded, they have to go back home. This will cost about $2.4
million in airfare to send students back to their agencies, and then
turn around and fly them back to FLETC when Congress does its job and
funds DHS.

Regardless of your views on immigration policy, wasting law
enforcement's time and taxpayer money does not improve our security.
Artesia is not a big city. Its economy relies on FLETC. The students
spend their money at local businesses. Many residents are contract
employees at the facility. If FLETC closes, it has a real impact in our
community.

As a New Mexican, I am appalled that a DHS shutdown is even being
considered. We cannot risk our national security, our community safety,
and our border commerce just so Republicans can prove some sort of
inside-the-beltway point about how angry they are about immigration
reform. The House Republican bill threatens to deport millions of
people who have been living and working and going to school in our
country for many years. The Senate should choose a different route: Put
a clean bill on the floor, allow an open amendment debate, and enact a
bill the President can sign before any shutdown occurs.

Few States understand the importance of comprehensive immigration
reform as New Mexico does. We need a system that secures our borders,
strengthens families, and supports our economy. In fact, we almost had
just that. The Senate passed a bipartisan bill in the last Congress,
but House Republicans let it die--would not even take it up, would not
put it on the floor.

That bill was not perfect. It did not satisfy everyone in every case,
but that is what compromise means. That is what a bipartisan effort
requires. Due to the House's failure to act on immigration reform, over
400,000 people in my State live in immigration limbo, all the while
they work and raise families. Deporting these children and families is
not a realistic option. We need to focus limited resources, as the
President has done, on securing the border. We need to go after drug
dealers and gang members and potential terrorists.

I and so many other New Mexicans are appalled that Republicans want
to take out their anger on the DREAMers. They will not commit to real
reform, but they will commit to chasing down children--innocent
children--brought to this country by their parents. These are inspiring
young people in my State, when I talk about these young DREAMers. They
have worked hard. They have persevered. They know and love this country
as their own.

They are young leaders such as Mabel Arellanes. Mabel came to Santa
Fe with her mother from Mexico when she was just 6 years old. Mabel
graduated from Capital High School. Her dream was to go to college, but
her immigration status made that impossible. From the age of 15, Mabel
worked to help other DREAMers. She helped pass the New Mexico DREAM
Act. Mabel eventually did get to college and graduated from the
University of New Mexico with honors. She is in her second year of law
school now.

Another one of the DREAMers--this is Alejandro Rivera. Another
DREAMer, he moved to Belen, NM, when he was 7 years old. After high
school, Alejandro enrolled at the University of New Mexico.
Undocumented, he could not get financial aid. He and his mother worked
hard to pay tuition. Alejandro also volunteered to help other young
people get an education and to follow their dreams. He is at work now
on his Ph.D. in education. We may disagree on the specifics of
immigration reform, but these DREAMers have earned our admiration. They
should not be pushed back into the shadows by the House deportation
bill.

The men and women who work to keep us safe, who screen more than 1
million people a day through our ports of entry, who patrol our borders
and help secure our communities should not be a bargaining chip. In New
Mexico we believe homeland security should be a priority, not a talking
point. Secretary Johnson at DHS has been very clear. Key security
initiatives are left waiting. His predecessors have also been very
clear. Last week all three former DHS Secretaries, two of whom are
Republican, sent a letter to the Senate leadership urging them to pass a clean funding bill.

We live in a very dangerous world. We face terrorist threats at home
and abroad. Recent events make that very clear. Now is not the time to
play politics with homeland security. In fact, there never is a right
time for that. The American people are watching. The people of my State
are watching. They are watching these games. What they see is a lot of
sound and fury that leads nowhere. What they want is a government that
works.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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