-9999

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, we are now more than 6 months--halfway through--the 2026 fiscal year, and somehow, thanks to my Democrat colleagues, there are still parts of the Federal Government that aren't funded for 2026.

Mr. President, 43 days--43 days--Democrats shut down the government last fall--the longest government shutdown ever--all because they couldn't bring themselves to accept a clean, nonpartisan funding bill. Now they have refused to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security for well over 50 days--all because they couldn't take ``yes'' for an answer.

Republicans and Democrats had reached an agreement in January to fund the Department of Homeland Security for the remainder of the fiscal year, but Democrats reneged on that agreement, demanding reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement--over and above the reforms, I might add, that had already been agreed to in the funding bill. Republicans offered to give them additional reforms. In addition to implementing reforms on its own, the White House repeatedly offered Democrats a robust package of additional reforms.

But nothing was ever enough for the Democrats. They just kept moving the goalposts, and eventually--eventually--they just walked away. It turns out their objective wasn't actually reform; it was a political issue. They didn't want a solution; they wanted a talking point-- although I think they have overestimated how well ``defund law enforcement'' is going to play in November, because, let's be very clear, that is what this is. If this were about making reforms to some of the ways law enforcement does business, then Democrats would have accepted reforms, but they didn't. Instead, shortly before Easter, Democrats voted to defund--defund--law enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security. They voted to defund deportation of criminal illegal aliens--individuals guilty of things like murder, assault, and sexual crimes against minors. They voted to defund drug interdiction. They voted to defund the DHS arm that investigates transnational criminal organizations, narcotics smuggling, and human traffickers. They voted to defund our border security. That is right--Democrats voted to defund U.S. Border Patrol. Apparently, the Biden administration, with its 4 years of recordbreaking illegal immigration, was not an anomaly; Democrats really don't believe in defending our borders.

I have to say it is mind-boggling. Leaving aside the national security implications of Democrats' position, Democrats do realize that it was partly the Biden border crisis that helped sink their party in the last election, don't they? I would think so. Do they really think that defunding border enforcement--border enforcement--is going to give them a victory in November?

Since Democrats have chosen to abdicate their responsibility to fund key parts of the Department of Homeland Security, Republicans are stepping in. Thanks to our foresight in the Working Families Tax Cut, immigration enforcement and border security are funded through the end of this fiscal year. But it is clear we can't rely on Democrats to fund law enforcement when it comes time to pass fiscal year 2027 funding in September, and so Republicans are going to take up a reconciliation bill to fund border security and immigration enforcement for the next 3 years.

Senator Graham and the Senate Budget Committee are already working on a budget resolution to set up consideration of this bill. And I want to see the Senate take up this resolution and the subsequent bill--the reconciliation bill--to follow without delay.

We need to keep this process tight and focused so that we can get this done. Otherwise, we are going to end up in the unacceptable situation where parts of the Department of Homeland Security are going unfunded, not just now, but for the long term.

I know the Republicans in both Houses of Congress are in complete agreement on the need to ensure that law enforcement is fully funded. And I am more than confident that if we work together, we can have legislation to the President in the near future.

As for my Democrat colleagues, well, I guess we will see how well open borders and defunding law enforcement play for them in November.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source