Speech #1130112984

The key Federal agencies tasked with responding to the humanitarian crisis on our borders are dangerously close to running out of money. These unanticipated costs are affecting the core functions at the Department of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services. Although the bill includes funding to hire additional immigration judicial teams and help set up new repatriation centers in Central America. the amounts provided are insufficient. The Justice Department and the State Department will not be able to handle their duties without significantly more resources. All four departments need more funding than this bill provides and fewer partisan immigration policy riders than this bill now contains. Our majority unwisely included legislative language to make sweeping changes to current law related to due process and immigration proceedings. Controversial legislation hastily added to an emergency supplemental is not the way to address a complicated problem. On July 8. the President requested $3.7 billion in emergency funding.