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Floor Speech

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Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, we are down to the 34th day of this partial government shutdown. For 34 days, the men and women who are serving our Federal Government at DHS have been forced to work without pay and without certainty about their future.

As I said on the floor yesterday, this is the third time in the last 6 months that the hard-working Americans who work to keep us safe every day have had to worry about how they are going to pay mortgages, pay rent, buy gas, and bring home groceries to feed their kids. I think that is clearly unfair, and it is un-American.

And while the American people are standing in line for hours at the airport and watching this unfold on the evening news, they are asking a reasonable question: What do Democrats actually want to accomplish by shutting down the Department of Homeland Security?

Yesterday, I talked about some of the stories of TSA agents. They are not getting paid. They are worried about their mortgages, their rent, putting food on the table. They can't send their kids to camp. They can't go on vacation. And I think, in 5 days, on the 27th, they lose a full paycheck.

But let's talk about some of the other people.

Let me talk about Ambria Britt. In a CNN story published yesterday, Ambria Britt, who has multiple sclerosis and cannot stand for long periods, told a reporter that she was forced to pay a stranger to push her wheelchair through the jammed line.

She arrived at Hartfield-Jackson Airport on Friday, expecting to use the accessibility line like she normally does. Instead, she found pure chaos. On Friday, in Atlanta, the line spilled out of the security checkpoint, past the main security screening area, and into the airport's atrium. Unable to stand, she had to pay a complete stranger to push her wheelchair through the jam.

She said: Normally, I just go straight through.

She told CNN: I just don't understand. Pay your workers, because we need them.

Ambria is right. People do not understand why Democrats are forcing this on them. I think we owe it to folks to expose the why behind this terrible shutdown because the answer matters.

Thankfully, my colleague from Vermont recently gave us an answer to this question during his recent appearance on C-SPAN's ``Ceasefire'' program.

Now, the junior Senator from Vermont is a wonderful person to work with. We have worked on bills together during my time at the Senate, and I always felt like I could have good conversations with him about the issues.

But what he said to C-SPAN is pretty revealing. He gave the rest of us a peek--a peek--into the thinking behind Democrats' deciding to shut down DHS. So let's take his statements one by one.

The junior Senator from Vermont began by saying:

In all candor, with what has happened with ICE, I think it is very hard for us to come to some agreement.

Now, that is honesty. It has been clear to me and a lot of people for a long time, that Democrats do not have any intention of working with Republicans to find common ground on reforming ICE operations.

President Trump has made offer after offer to Democrats to address their concerns with ICE. I know the junior Senator from Alabama has tried to meet with them multiple times. President Trump is trying to meet this moment with reasonable reforms to how ICE operates.

Unfortunately, my Democrat colleagues won't engage. In fact, they have only met with Republicans to negotiate one time.

Now, it is clear why. As the junior Senator from Vermont said, there isn't a belief among Democrats that they will accept any term proposed by Republicans.

So we have now established that this shutdown isn't about working in a bipartisan way to solve problems.

Let's move to the next statement from my colleague from Vermont.

He said:

The other reality is that ICE got forward funded, about 3 years, in the One Big Beautiful Bill. So this is--ironically, it's not really affecting ICE.

Here, the junior Senator from Vermont is admitting that this shutdown, which Democrats caused by claiming that they needed to defund ICE to force bipartisan reforms, isn't actually impacting ICE agents at all.

Now, the folks at ICE that don't only work in law enforcement are being hurt. Now, there are a lot of people at ICE that are not law enforcement. They aren't covered by the money my colleague referenced in the Big Beautiful Bill. So the support staff, the public affairs staff, HR, IT professionals, leadership--none of them, it is my understanding, are being paid, in addition, more than 50,000 TSA agents that aren't getting paid--they are all being hurt by the Democrat DHS shutdown.

Just to make sure we are all keeping track, the junior Senator from Vermont said:

In all candor, with what has happened with ICE, I think it is very hard for us to come to some agreement.

Then he said:

The . . . reality is that ICE got forward funded . . . three years, in the One Big Beautiful Bill so this is, ironically, it's not really affecting ICE.

So in these two sentences, my Democratic colleague from Vermont has now said that Democrats don't have the intention of reaching a bipartisan solution with Republicans. And he knows that the Agencies at the center of this dispute--ICE and CBPs--are not running out of money. They are fine.

Now, there are people at ICE and CBP who are not getting paid, and yet here we are. TSA agents, most of the people at DHS, everyone at ICE who isn't law enforcement, they are going hungry. You heard the stories. They don't have the money to pay their rent, pay their mortgages, put food on the table, pay for dance recitals, pay for camps, pay for sports--none of these things.

Now, here is what he said next:

If we were able to open up the rest of government and focus on the ICE issue, it may allow us then to have a discussion that I think is overdue. The border is secure now. It wasn't under Biden. You say that and that's true.

So we know that. We know that, under Biden, the border was completely wide open and criminals just flocked into this country and not one of my Democratic colleagues said a word. They never want to talk about Laken Riley, Rachel Morin, Jocelyn Nungaray--murdered by illegal aliens.

Now, he ended his point by saying this:

It's ripe for us to have a sensible discussion about a reasonable immigration plan, in a reasonable way to deal with folks who don't have legal status.

Now, I am from a State that we have a lot of immigrants, right? I believe in immigration reform. I am always willing to have a conversation about it. I have actually proposed changes to TPS. I have proposed things that have always been blocked by my Democratic colleagues.

And we ought to fix our immigration system so the only people that come into our country are people who actually want to work, not go on American programs, and want to help build our capitalist country. I think that is the ones who should be allowed in. Unfortunately, that is not the type of reform the Democrats are holding out for. They want amnesty.

My friend, the junior Senator from Vermont, is talking about amnesty. He is talking about using a government shutdown, using the paychecks of TSA workers, using 3- or 4-hour security lines, using the pain felt by disabled Americans like Ambria Britt who had to pay a stranger to push her wheelchair through security as leverage--as leverage--to open a conversation about amnesty to people who are in this country illegally.

And here is the part that should make every American's blood boil: There is no Democratic proposal. I haven't seen it.

Mr. President, have you seen it? I haven't seen a proposal. I haven't seen anything--no plan, no bill, no written offer. Weeks and weeks of offers from the White House and dozens of failed Senate votes, and the American people still cannot read a single piece of paper that says what Democrats actually want.

The only thing Democrats keep harping on is banning ICE from wearing masks, so let's dig into that point now. This is important because it really exposes the disconnect between political posturing and human consequences. Democrat Senators introduced legislation to ban ICE agents from wearing masks during enforcement operations and required them to display their names or badge numbers at all times. House Democrats introduced a companion bill, and several States introduced or passed similar measures.

Now, on the surface, this sounds like accountability, right? I actually agree with making sure badges are visible for uniformed law enforcement officers. That seems like a commonsense idea to me, but let's talk about ICE agents not being allowed to wear a mask.

Now, there are radical anti-ICE activists. You might know that, Mr. President; I think most people do, right? They are all over the country. They have built and maintained websites that catalog photographs of alleged ICE employees organized by State, searchable by region. That should scare us. They encourage their fellow activists to hunt our law enforcement and give them all the tools to do so.

Now, here is what has already happened: ICE has reported a 1,000- percent increase--that is a tenfold increase--in assaults on officers. That is even more than tenfold, isn't it? Yeah, tenfold. And an 8,000- percent increase in death threats against officers and their families.

A Dallas gunman fired multiple rounds at an ICE field office from a nearby rooftop and used apps specifically to track the locations of ICE agents before the attack. In San Francisco and LA, a mob surrounded ICE agents in the street and at their offices. These agents were assaulted and threatened.

Now, ICE agents are just like you and me. They are normal Americans. They have got families, and they love their kids. If they have grandkids, they love their grandkids. They have great neighbors, great friends, and they are simply doing the job that they were hired to do to keep every American safe.

They are doing what police do, what sheriffs do: They are working every day to enforce the laws of this country that we pass, but many of my Democratic colleagues want to see them as monsters.

Now, here is the difference: The TSA workers, they are going to work every day enforcing the laws, trying to keep us safe, and they are under a lot of stress because they are not getting paid. The ICE agents might be getting paid right now, but they are being attacked by-- Democrats act like they are monsters. Their families are worried about them. They are worried about getting a threatening midnight phone call because an activist website posted their loved one's photograph and home address, so their families are worried.

That is what the mask ban would enable--not accountability; exposure. And for people who are already doing their jobs under impossible conditions, that additional threat is not a policy debate; it is a danger to their life.

Now, let's be clear: I don't think any of us want ICE to wear masks. I wish they didn't have to. But if wearing a mask keeps a law enforcement officer and their family safe from being attacked by radical anti-ICE activists, I am all for it.

Now, I support measures that keep our police accountable to the people they serve and protect. I believed that when I was Governor. We started bringing body cameras in when I was Governor of Florida. The White House has proposed body cameras, and I completely agree with that proposal. Cameras create accountability.

When I just flew through the Denver airport, I saw a couple of the law enforcement officers. They had cameras, and they thought it was the greatest thing in the world--complete accountability for everybody, them and for the public. Cameras create accountability through recorded evidence and supervisor review without turning every officer into a target for harassment and violence.

Democrats still impress that they want to ``have a conversation.'' They want to ``discuss.'' Meanwhile, most of the more than 260,000 workers at the Department of Homeland Security are going without paychecks, and your gate security lines stretch around the block.

Now, Democrats can disagree with us on immigration enforcement, and that is their right. But shutting down an entire Federal Agency, refusing to pay the hundreds of thousands of people who simply want to show up and serve the Federal Government by protecting the American people all to force a so-called negotiation on immigration policy that we have never seen written down, that is not governance; that is hostage-taking.

And let me remind you: The average salary of a TSA agent--Mr. President, what do you think the average salary is? $50,000. Now, these are the folks Democrats are withholding paychecks from, Americans making about $50,000 a year.

What do we make? U.S. Senators, we make 174,000 bucks a year. And I have tried--I have had a bill--No Budget, No Pay. My Democratic colleagues have always blocked it because they refuse to go without being paid, but they are OK with other people not being paid. So while the folks at TSA are working-class Americans fighting every day to live their dreams, guess what the average net worth for a Democrat in the Senate is? About $3 million.

Now, I am not here to shame anybody. I am glad they worked hard, they got rich, they have been successful in life. I worked my butt off, I have been very successful, and I don't apologize for it for a second. But in addition to donating my entire Senate salary every year, I am also not the one sitting here today denying a paycheck to the more than 260,000 hard-working Americans at DHS.

Now, I think my Democratic colleagues ought to have skin in the game. The last time Democrats shut down the government and hurt our Federal workers, one of my Democratic colleagues said that he couldn't go without his Senate paycheck because he has a mortgage to pay. Well, guess what? So does every Federal employee at DHS. They are either probably paying the rent or they have a mortgage. The people Democrats aren't paying right now, they have bills to pay.

It frustrates me, it makes me sick that a Member of the U.S. Senate that voted to say somebody else can't get paid, they said they have to get paid. I think that is insulting. Imagine how it makes someone at TSA feel to hear that: A U.S. Senator needs to get his paycheck when he is making 174,000 bucks, but you at DHS, good luck. I think that is pretty disgusting. I don't think, if Congress shuts down the government, Members should get paid.

Now, I have a bill to make that happen. I had a colleague that had a similar bill earlier today. My No Budget, No Pay Act would keep everyone in this Chamber from getting a paycheck if we can't provide them to the hard-working men and women who work in our Federal Government.

Look, I think there needs to be personal consequences for politicians that want to play games with other people's lives and cut off their paychecks, so I think we need to pass my No Budget, No Pay Act. Again, this is a simple proposal that says if Members of Congress can't complete our basic constitutional job of funding the government--the whole government, not part, not some but all of it--we shouldn't get paid.

So I urge my colleagues to consider this: What about the mortgages of DHS workers? What about their grocery bills? What about their kids' camp? What about their daughter's dance recital? I think we ought to care about them.

So I don't get it. I can't see how a Democratic colleague can get on a plane, fly home, probably go to the front of the line, look at these unpaid TSA agents in the eye, walk to the gate in front of all of them, pass Americans who just waited in line for 4 hours, and not feel some shame.

More than 260,000 American families are going without a paycheck, but my Democratic colleagues are still cashing theirs. Democrats shouldn't be shutting down the government and risking others' paychecks without being willing to put their paychecks on the line too.

So I am not going to ask for a UC, but I wish at some point we would pass my No Budget, No Pay Act so we all have skin in the game. If Republicans, Democrats--whoever--are going to shut down the government, then they ought to do the same thing that they are doing to other people to themselves.

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