Hal Rogers: “I thank Chairman Carter for his great work in putting this bill together and for yielding the time. Mr. Chair, I rise in…”

“I thank Chairman Carter for his great work in putting this bill together and for yielding the time. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of this bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security. In December, the House passed, on a bipartisan basis, an aggregated appropriations bill that funded most of the Federal Government, 11 of the 12 annual appropriations bills, and today we consider the last remaining of those bills. The security of our homeland is one of our highest priorities. This bill provides $39.7 billion for that purpose: to protect our borders, defend against the threats of terrorism, and enforce our Nation's laws. Today we will also consider amendments to the bill that will reverse the President's declaration of executive amnesty for illegal aliens. One of these amendments would change existing law to prohibit any funding, including fees, from being used to implement the order. As the chairman of the subcommittee has said, there are no appropriations in this bill for the illegal amnesty decree--that is being funded by fees--and this amendment would get at that problem. The American people have spoken loud and clear. They want our immigration laws enforced rather than unilaterally changed by executive decree in an unlawful way that undermines our Constitution and the integrity of our laws. I will vote for these amendments because the Presidential amnesty decree grossly exceeds this authority and violates the Constitution.…”