In order for the Department of Homeland Security to officially and effectively carry out its critical role in combating the multiple and everchanging threats our country faces. the Department needs fiscal certainty and the full support of this Congress. Throughout this week I joined nearly half of my Senate colleagues to reject the House funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security. H.R. 240. which contains riders that block the Presidents recent immigration actions. Many of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle have significant concerns with these amendments. and the President has promised he would veto this bill if these amendments were not stripped from it. My colleagues insistence that we accept these House amendments is jeopardizing timely enactment of a vital and bipartisan Homeland Security funding bill and threatens to prolong the crippling budget uncertainty the Department of Homeland Security has been operating under since last year. On top of that. according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. this House bill with the amendments would increase deficits over the next 10 years by a total of $7.5 billion. Instead of helping our Nation move forward with our economic recovery and our deficit reduction. this bill would move us backwards. I understand why some of our colleagues are upset about the Presidents immigration policies. We can and we should have a debate about those concerns. We started the process just yesterday in the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. where I serve as ranking member. Let me remind my colleagues that we wouldnt even be here having this conversation today or at that hearing yesterday if Congress had finished the job we began some 2 years ago in the Senate. right here on this floor. As most of my colleagues in this Chamber will recall. twothirds of the Senate came together in 2013. We passed by a wide margin a comprehensive immigration reform bill. Was it perfect? No. but we took significant steps to fix our badly broken and outdated immigration system and to enhance the security of our borders. At the same time. the bill would have reduced our budget deficit by nearly $1 trillion-$1 trillionover the next 20 years. according to the Congressional Budget Office. Let me repeat that. Comprehensive immigration reform adopted here by a twothirds vote would reduce our deficit by nearly $1 trillion over the next 20 years. We demonstrated almost 2 years ago that we can debate our Nations immigration policies in a thoughtful way in the Senate. and. I think. over in the House. There is no reason why we cant do it again.
Keywords matched
immigration