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Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, the Senate will soon confirm Markwayne Mullin to be the new Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

It is critical at this time that we have a fully functioning and fully funded Department of Homeland Security. The American people need that to keep all of us safe. We are going to do very well having Senator Mullin's trustworthy leadership in place.

Today, the Department is not fully funded--it is not funded at all-- because of the Democrats. We just had the Democrat leader on the floor of the Senate saying he wants to vote against funding the Department of Homeland Security, and he says he plans to do it again today.

Right now, the Department of Homeland Security is shut down, people are unpaid, and the Democrats are the ones that continue to proudly say that they are the ones defunding it. For 35 days, they have blocked every effort to reopen the Department of Homeland Security. It is time to vote to get it open again.

Americans need and deserve safety and security. The Democrats are preventing it. Americans all around the country are on high alert because they have seen multiple attacks by radical Islamic terrorists across the streets of this Nation. Americans have died, and blood is on their hands.

A terrorist forcefully rammed his truck loaded with explosives into a synagogue and a preschool in Michigan. There were staff there. There were teachers. There were 100 children inside. Had it not been for the quick-acting security guards, many of those inside would have been killed. We later learned that that terrorist's brother was a commander in the terrorist group Hezbollah.

Here in Virginia, at Old Dominion University, another terrorist shot and killed a decorated ROTC instructor.

In New York City, two terrorists threw homemade bombs into a crowd. The terrorist admitted to authorities later that they had hoped to hurt or kill more people than were killed by the bomber in the Boston Marathon.

In Texas, a terrorist shot into a crowded establishment. He was wearing a T-shirt that said ``Property of Allah.'' Three people were killed, and dozens were wounded.

It is not just the kinetic attacks; it is also cyber attacks. Iran this week launched a major cyber attack on a major medical device company in Michigan. Because of that attack, hospitals around the Nation had to temporarily pause transmitting vital-sign data from patients under treatment.

The attacks continue, and the Democrats continue to defund our Department of Homeland Security.

The Wall Street Journal noted this week that the cyber attack we just witnessed against the medical device company shows the reach of Iran's cyber capabilities.

The Department of Homeland Security was set up after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. They are there to prevent all of these kinds of attacks, and the Democrats have shut it all down. Because of the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security by the Democrats, our Nation is vulnerable to terrorist attacks on multiple levels--physical, cyber.

Republicans stand ready to end this shutdown today. We want to end it today. We are going to vote today.

The minority leader was on the floor, and he said: Well, tomorrow, we are going to have a vote about trying to change committee assignments and move something over there and move it around, and we will just deal with one part of it.

The country needs to be protected. The American people need to know that they are safe in their communities.

The White House has outlined an entire list of bipartisan solutions to address the concerns that the Democrats have raised. They include expanding the use of body cameras for officers and making IDs for officers clearly visible. Democrats have rejected all of these good-faith offers. They rejected bipartisan solutions. Instead, they once again are trying to peel apart the Department of Homeland Security.

This is a comprehensive Department put together after a terrorist attacked us in our homeland, and it is to protect the people in this country. Piecemeal Democrat bills cannot hide the fact that Democrats caused this current shutdown. If they think they can avoid blame for this shutdown of American security, they are wrong. The people understand that the Democrats are standing between their own securities in their own homes and the terrorists who are out there.

I think Democrats ought to pay attention to President Obama's Secretary of Homeland Security. His name is Jeh Johnson. We have all worked with him. He had a warning just this past weekend for the Democrats. He said this:

If ever there were a time we needed to fund the Department of Homeland Security, it's right now.

He went on to say:

[We] need all 22 components of Homeland Security functioning all at once, side-by-side.

Not piecemeal, torn apart, which is what the Democrats are trying to do.

This is a statement of a Democrat. He ran the Department for President Barack Obama, and he is telling the Democrats on the floor: Fund all of it.

Senate Democrats have clearly lost their direction, and they have lost the argument. Even Democrats are saying they are wrong.

One of the components of the Department of Homeland Security is something called Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The American people are well aware of that.

Senator Schumer was on the floor making a comment about them a few moments ago. He said they are controversial.

Well, just a few years ago, Senator Schumer had something very different to say to NBC News. He said:

ICE does some functions that are very much needed.

Apparently, he doesn't think any of it is needed today. Now he wants to abolish ICE. He has said it. Democrats want to abolish ICE. They have said it. They want to defund law enforcement. You have seen the chants. You have seen the people: ``Defund the police.'' ``Defund ICE.'' They don't seem to care about the safety and the security of people in this country. They seem to want to stand more with illegal immigrant criminals than they do with American people. This is a radical position. It is now also the default policy of the Democrat Party.

So what are the necessary functions that Senator Schumer might have been talking about a few years ago when he said ``ICE does some functions that are very much needed''? Well, one of those is called Homeland Security Investigations. They are part of Immigration and Customs Enforcement--the part he wants defunded. He wants it all gone.

Mr. President, 7,100 special agents work for Homeland Security Investigations. They do vital work that keeps America and Americans safe. This week alone, these hard-working agents helped to seize over 170 pounds of methamphetamine in Utah. Additionally, they arrested a child trafficker in California who was trafficking not one but two children. They helped to investigate and arrest an illegal immigrant in Louisiana who was a member of the terrorist group MS-13. That is this week.

They want that entire Department gone. The American people need them. We need that level of security.

Senate Democrats are now defunding the American heroes who stop drug cartels, who stop terrorists, who rescue children from human traffickers.

The actions of the Democrats continue to make our Nation less safe. It is time for them to join us in protecting the Nation's security.

So we are going to vote again today. We are going to vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security, and we will fund it right away today, fully, immediately. The Democrats are going to have to say whether they are going to stand with us and the American people or they are once again going to stand against safety and security. They are the only ones standing in the way, and blood is on their hands. The American people will hold them accountable.

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Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Alabama (Mrs. Britt), the Senator from Montana (Mr. Daines), the Senator from Nebraska (Mrs. Fischer), the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Paul), the Senator from Montana (Mr. Sheehy), the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Tuberville), and the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Wicker).

Further, if present and voting: the Senator from Alabama (Mrs. Britt) would have voted ``yea'' and the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Tuberville) would have voted ``yea.''

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