Press Releases

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) delivered the following remarks on the House of Representatives floor today, calling on House leadership to fund the Department of Homeland Security through the end of the fiscal year. DelBene’s speech, as prepared for delivery, is below:

“In my state of Washington, we’re very familiar with the vital role the Department of Homeland Security plays.

“Nearly one year ago, in a matter of seconds, one square mile of land slid into the Stillaguamish River near Oso, Washington. The landslide was a heartbreaking disaster that was unbelievably devastating in the damage and tragic loss of life it caused. Forty-three people died in the blink of an eye. But FEMA, which is part of DHS, was immediately on the scene to coordinate search and rescue operations.

“Congress needs to do everything possible to ensure that resources are available to respond to disasters. Because landslides have no season, earthquakes have no seas and terrorist attacks have no season.

“By failing to fund the Department, Congress risks the lives of Americans and that is simply unacceptable.

“Now some have said most employees will be deemed essential, meaning they’ll be asked to do their already high pressure jobs of protecting our communities, without pay. That will be the case for more than 6,000 workers in my state. But FEMA Administrator Fugate said a lapse in funding would delay urgent disaster relief services because he’d have to call staff back to work while the agency tries to respond to an emergency.

“Not only that, emergency responders who have requested Department of Homeland Security grants would be left without much-needed assistance. Whatcom County Fire District 18, a mostly volunteer force that serves parts of my district, applied for a $24,000 firefighters’ grant to replace much-needed equipment. This is equipment that protects the lives of these volunteers who are saving others’ lives, but if Congress fails to fund the Department of Homeland Security, those grants are at risk.

“If House leadership would simply bring a clean DHS funding bill to the floor, we have the votes to pass it today. But instead, that legislation is being held hostage because some disagree with the President’s executive actions.

“I helped introduce H.R. 15, a comprehensive immigration reform bill during the last Congress, but we never got a vote. If leadership agrees that this is such an important issue – so important that it’s worth defunding an essential federal agency – then Congress should be working on comprehensive immigration reform and consider legislation immediately, but after we finish our job of funding the Department.

“We need to stop playing politics and fund the Department of Homeland Security now. I yield back.”

DHS was excluded from the full-year “cromnibus” deal passed in December. Instead, the agency was funded only until February 27, because Republicans wanted to stop President Obama’s executive actions on immigration once they controlled both the House and Senate.

DelBene voted against a partisan bill that would result in the deportation of millions of DREAMers, who know no other home than the United States. She has written to Speaker Boehner requesting that he allow a vote on a clean DHS funding bill, such as H.R. 861, which she has cosponsored. The Senate has been unable to pass the House bill which included the poison-pill amendments.

Click HERE to watch the speech.

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