Dick Durbin: “this week we are deciding whether we are going to shut down the Government of the United States of America again. Again.…”

“this week we are deciding whether we are going to shut down the Government of the United States of America again. Again. I think it was about a year and a half ago that the Senator from Texas on the other side of the aisle took to the floor and called for shutting down the Government of the United States of America, protesting President Obama's Affordable Care Act. He did it, and the hardship that created for people all across the United States who relied on essential government services is well documented. The impact it had on the men and women who work in our government was also documented. It cost our economy. It was a bad thing to do. It was a political strategy which on reflection was the absolute worst, to shut down our government. Well, this week we face another shutdown, and this time it is the Department of Homeland Security. This Department is the one Department that is charged with keeping America safe from the threat of terrorism. It was created after 9/11 because we wanted to make sure we put together 22 agencies that worked together to protect us. You see them in so many different places. This agency runs the Coast Guard. Its cutters are patrolling Lake Michigan and our coastline--the Atlantic and Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico as well. You see them when you go to the airport--TSA is under the supervision of the Department of Homeland Security.…”