Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, let me just say that this is a victory for the hardworking men and women whose lives were put on hold by Republicans for 76 days, but these hardworking men and women continued to work while Republicans shut down this government and held them hostage.

It is about damn time that you come forward and do this. We proposed this, I proposed it, 79 days ago.

Mr. Speaker, I will just say that those armed, masked agents marauding our streets are terrorizing people in our communities. We have from the outset wanted to negotiate how we deal with that in a separate way and fund everyone else in DHS, including Coast Guard, FEMA, Secret Service, cybersecurity. It has been the Republicans who have been intransigent and not willing to do that, but there we go.

Today, we are going to do it. It could have been done 76 days ago. I will take it today. The men and women who are honorable, who are working every single day to defend this country, are not going to be held hostage any longer by my Republican colleagues.

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