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Floor Speech
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Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, there is not a pending motion on the floor currently?
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Mr. MURPHY. Seeking recognition on my own right.
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Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, yesterday and today, Democrats have been on the floor asking for something very simple: Let's open up TSA. Let's open up CISA, which protects this country from cyber attack. Let's open up the Coast Guard. Let's open up FEMA.
Republicans have said ``no'' repeatedly. Yesterday, we said: Let's open all four Agencies up together. Republicans denied us that motion. Today, we are trying to see if we can open up one at a time.
What Republicans are saying is that: We want to hold TSA, our airports, the protection of our coastline, the defense of this Nation from cyber attacks, and our response to emergencies hostage to their determination to continue to fund a law enforcement operation at ICE that is out of control.
So Republicans are saying: We are going to keep TSA shut. We are going to keep the Coast Guard shut. We are going to keep FEMA shut until you allow the President to continue to terrorize our communities with a lawless, out-of-control ICE.
This isn't just what you see on the news. The scenes out of Minneapolis were horrific, unconscionable, American citizens being gunned down on the streets. One Federal judge found that ICE is in violation of 96 different court orders right now all across the country. Courts have ruled in 4,000 cases that ICE has jailed people illegally.
ICE is behaving in a brazenly lawless and unconstitutional manner, and none of us--Republican or Democrat--should be interested in funding a part of the Federal Government that is operating outside of the bounds of law.
We swore an oath to the Constitution. And so we have a serious discussion that is happening as we speak between Republicans and Democrats about how we can come together to fund ICE. But while that discussion happens, why are we keeping shut down the Coast Guard, TSA, FEMA? It is not necessary.
If Republicans just stopped coming to the floor to object, we could open up TSA right now. We could get those salaries paid.
I am going to offer a motion to open up funding for the Coast Guard. We could get the people who protect our shorelines paid.
And, yes, this is a mess. This is a mess. I admit it. This is a mess. But we didn't have shutdowns when Democrats were in charge of the Senate.
We are at a logjam because the Republicans refuse to listen to the very reasonable concerns that Democrats and the American people have about the way that ICE is behaving.
And by the way, we aren't representing some fringe political constituency. In the last national poll, 60 percent of Americans said that Congress should not fund ICE until they clean up their act. The vast majority of Americans believe that that Agency is out of control.
But if you went out there and asked those same Americans whether they think that TSA and the Coast Guard and FEMA should be shut down while we resolve those differences, they would say: Hell no. Open up the airports. Protect our shorelines.
So we are going to continue to come to the floor and attempt to convince Republicans to release these hostages.
I know that you are committed to supporting the President's lawlessness. I don't understand why you won't stand up and say it is wrong that there are 96 different court orders that ICE has violated, it is wrong that American citizens are being killed on the streets, that it is wrong that schools are being tear gassed.
But while we are having this difference of opinion on ICE that is sort of hard to understand, don't hold the rest of the Department of Homeland Security hostage to your insistence that the President get to act outside the bounds of law when it comes to the enforcement of our immigration laws.
I am going to offer a motion. And, again, yesterday, we offered a motion to open up all of the rest of the Department of Homeland Security. I am going to offer a more targeted motion.
On the average day, the Coast Guard saves 12 lives, interdicts 1,250 pounds of cocaine, screens 300 vessels. It would be really important to get our Coast Guard opened up.
I know my colleague from Delaware thinks the same thing. Right before I offer the motion, I yield to her for a quick question.
Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER. Thank you, Senator Murphy.
I want to start off as the ranking member on the U.S. Coast Guard Subcommittee, and I stand here today, first of all, to acknowledge your leadership and to acknowledge the fact that it is surprising, I think, to most Americans that when we can get agreement on 90 percent of something, we don't act on that 90 percent. We have an opportunity right now.
And, again, as ranking member of the Coast Guard Subcommittee, we know that the Coast Guard keeps our Nation safe in times of peace, but also in times of war. Even wars that weren't brought to Congress or that have no strategy or exit strategy, they do their job.
From protecting our ports, to helping our communities with search and rescue operations--the Coast Guard is critical to our Nation's national security and safety. They patrol over 4.5 million square miles of ocean. They protect over 95,000 miles of U.S. coastline. They secure over 26,000 miles of commercial waterways and ensure the safety of over 360 ports, 3,700 marine terminals, and 25,000 miles of navigable channels. The men and women of the Coast Guard of the United States dedicate their lives to protecting the largest system of ports, waterways, and coastal seas in the world.
And right now--right now--over 42,000 Active-Duty servicemembers are uncertain about whether they will receive their next paycheck, and nearly 10,000 civilians who support their critical work are going without pay right now. Their next paychecks should actually be hitting their accounts in a couple of days, which is why what we do here today is so vital.
I had the privilege of visiting the Sector Delaware Bay last summer, and I met the coasties stationed there, and I got to hear firsthand how deeply connected they are to our mission, to our safety, to our economy, and our national security. And it helped clarify how immensely important that we must take care of the coasties at home so that they can serve our country with confidence at sea.
Again, right now, we are neglecting our duty. Politics aside, the Coast Guard has a job to do, and we have an opportunity to do something about it.
Our colleagues asked us for more weeks. We got 2 weeks in the beginning. We are now weeks and weeks and weeks from those 2 weeks.
The best way that we can support our Coast Guard men and women is to pay them. And while we, as Democrats, fight to address a broken Agency that we know of as ICE, we have to recognize and pay our Coast Guard's men and women.
So, Senator Murphy, do you agree that our colleagues across the aisle should join us in paying our Coast Guard men and women without delay?
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Mr. MURPHY. I thank the Senator for the question.
I do.
Especially at a time when the United States is at war, we cannot afford to have our coastlines undefended. The motions that Republicans have been making today have offered to pay the Coast Guard for 2 weeks. That is not good enough.
Right now, this motion that I will make will allow the Coast Guard to be paid for the rest of the year. If the Senator does not object to my motion, then minutes from now, the Coast Guard--the 52,000 people who work for the Coast Guard--will know that we honor their service and that we are going to pay them for the rest of the year, and so here is my motion.
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Mr. MURPHY. My friend, you have lost the argument with the public. You just have. The public thinks that ICE is out of control. The public does not want ICE to continue operating in the way that they are operating. They have seen the scenes out of Minneapolis. They are watching what is happening in Vermont today. And they don't agree with you. The majority of Americans, by a large margin, say that what is happening today is out of control.
And, yes, you did offer motions to keep the Coast Guard open for 2 weeks. That doesn't help the peace of mind of the 52,000 people who work for the Coast Guard and wonder whether they are going to have more than one paycheck.
You are objecting to a motion to keep them open for the rest of the year. And so tomorrow, when TSA is still not open and the Coast Guard is still not open, and FEMA is still not operating, there is only one reason.
Today you are offering motions to keep them open for 2 weeks, and you are objecting to motions to keep those Agencies open for the whole year. People are going to see the difference.
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