“I don't like that. I want taxpayers to spend more money. More money for my program.”
Official Congressional Record
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, I might add, with all this concern about the folks who were out of work, who were waiting in long lines, about our folks in the Coast Guard and others, it was my proposal that said: Let's fund those agencies. Since there is difficulty about ICE and about Border Patrol, let's fund the agencies and move forward. It took Republicans 79 days to decide that that was the good fix, and, therefore, we could pay those people. They kept them dangling in the wind for those 79 days, all because they would like to continue to fund rogue agencies that are lawless, that are putting at risk people in our communities--and more than at risk with, most recently, two people killed, one in Maine and one in Texas. The Homeland bill passed--I am going to mention it again--unopposed in April, a voice vote, because it included the provision to remove all funding for the Border Patrol. This continuing resolution doesn't continue that agreement. As I said, we viewed that there was an error that was made because it would allow Homeland Security Secretary Mullin to transfer billions of dollars to the Border Patrol, the same agency responsible for harassing and killing American citizens. Again, what we tried to do was to reach out to our colleagues on the other side of the aisle in good faith. We crafted the language, informed them of the error, and shared the language to fix it. They have refused to do so and continue to refuse to do so. One has to ask the question: Why? Who wants to shut down a government? I certainly don't. Democrats do not want a government shutdown. If I had my way, we would be able to fund the government on a bipartisan basis through the appropriations process, one bill at a time. Unfortunately, it seems increasingly likely that, at some point, a continuing resolution will be necessary. That does not mean we must rush through an incomplete, hastily constructed, one-sided stopgap measure that fails to adequately meet the government's funding needs. Agencies only came up with their needs yesterday afternoon, over 50 of these needs. I admonish my colleagues on the other side of the aisle: Read it carefully because something that may affect your community and something you care deeply about, and seeing that agency move forward during a period of a continuing resolution, may be in here, but not on what you will vote on this afternoon. I am disappointed that the apparent error in this measure--which, again, allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to transfer billions of dollars, in direct contravention of the agreement--has not been corrected. I would much rather be standing before you to tout a bipartisan agreement that, in fact, moves us forward through the appropriations process on a bipartisan basis. It is a partisan path that my colleagues have taken us on here, without all the information necessary to draft an adequate funding extension and without consulting anyone else on their proposal. This is a go-it-alone approach. You know what? That is not a way to govern. We know that, especially those of us who sit on the Committee on Appropriations. It is not a go-it-alone approach. My colleagues have to engage. They have to be involved in a negotiation, which is what we were involved in in April, and we came to a conclusion. That is what we should be doing now: engaging in a negotiation, coming to a conclusion, and fixing what is an error in the drafting of the language of the continuing resolution. Don't hold us up and pass a bill that doesn't meet the needs of the American people. I strongly urge my colleagues to take the time. Let's get it right the first time. Let's come to the table. Let's negotiate an agreement we can all support. Let's work together to fully fund the government for fiscal year 2027. That is what we can do. There isn't any question in my mind that we can do that. All of these obstacles that you want to put forward with arguments about who wants to shut the government down, let's get real: Fix the error that was made. Fix the error that was placed in that bill. We said no money for Border Patrol unless there would be the protections. There is an open door to Border Patrol, and there are no protections. I believe the American people have sent us here to do the work on their behalf, to make sure that we address the issues that we care about. We can do that, and it wouldn't take very long. I don't know what the reluctance is to fix the error that would be made and set us on a path to be able to pass bipartisan bills and a continuing resolution that we can all support. It is what I am committed to doing. Mr. Speaker, I encourage a ``no'' vote on this legislation in its current form. I yield back the balance of my time.
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