Dick Durbin: “over the weekend, as I mentioned, as millions of people were marching on the streets of France and around the world to…”

“over the weekend, as I mentioned, as millions of people were marching on the streets of France and around the world to demonstrate the world's unity in the aftermath of the horrible terrorist attack in France, the President announced that he will convene a summit at the White House next month to discuss what can be done further to stop the threat of violent extremism. This is a time when we should all be focusing on what we can do to stop the threat of terrorism in our country as well as the rest of the world, so it is truly surprising, to say the least, that the House of Representatives will vote on a bill this week that threatens to shut down the Department of Homeland Security. That is our government agency that is responsible for protecting Americans from terrorism. What in the world would lead the House of Representatives to threaten to shut down this agency? We should not even be debating the Department of Homeland Security at this moment in history. Every other government agency--every single one of them--has already been funded through the end of this fiscal year, September 30, and that is normal when we fund the government. But the Republicans in the House and Senate insisted weeks ago that the Department of Homeland Security only be funded through the end of February. Why did they demand that this critical agency that is responsible for keeping us safe across America not be funded in the normal manner?…”