Terri Sewell: “Today, I rise in support of our Nation's continued safety and national security. Recent world events vividly remind us…”

“Today, I rise in support of our Nation's continued safety and national security. Recent world events vividly remind us of the importance of supporting and maintaining a strong and robust homeland security policy. Today, we are going to vote on H.R. 240, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, and it provides for critical, important funding to the Department, including vital support for essential law enforcement activities and programs. I had hoped that my Republican colleagues would bring this bill, a clean bill, to the floor; instead, we have more politics as usual. A bill that would actually be signed into law by the President is what this country needs; however, what we have is not that case today. It is unfortunate and extremely upsetting that the Republicans are now threatening to shut down the Department of Homeland Security, endangering the security of our entire country and appeasing the most extreme anti-immigration reform fringes of their party. This is simply politics over country and should not be a part of the debate surrounding our critically important appropriations bills for Homeland Security. The five amendments that the Republicans plan to attach to the bipartisan Homeland Security bill represent some of the most extreme anti-immigration legislation.…”