On the recordFebruary 27, 2015
as the vice chair of the Committee on Appropriations, I rise to speak on the Homeland Security funding bill. This morning the Senate moves to fulfill its responsibility--its national responsibility--to pass the Homeland Security bill which would fully fund the Department through the fiscal year 2015. This fulfills a constitutional oath we Senators took to protect and defend the Constitution and the people of the United States against all foes, foreign and domestic. The domestic is here today. The domestic is in homeland security. The domestic is in what we need to do to fulfill our responsibility. We take oaths to the Constitution. We say we want a constitutionally driven government. So do I. We need to get off of our press releases and pass this bill. I am really proud of the fact that we on the Committee on Appropriations did our job, and we did it in December. The subcommittee chairs of Homeland Security did their due diligence and came up with an affordable framework for funding the Homeland Security bill. It met the bottom line, met the budget caps, but also met our compelling national security needs. Congressman Hal Rogers in the House, for whom I have nothing but great respect, and I came to a fiscal agreement, but we did not have the ability to move it forward because there were those who wanted to delay putting it in the omnibus because they were having a temper tantrum with the President of the United States over his Executive authority.…
