Celia Israel: “This is the final amendment to the bill. It will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill…”

“This is the final amendment to the bill. It will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage, as amended. Madam Speaker, last week terrorists struck France, reminding us every day that we must be vigilant and every day we must be prepared. Madam Speaker, I represent Long Island, New York. Hundreds of my constituents were killed on 9/11. Almost every day, another recovery worker from Ground Zero is losing his or her life all these years later. On that day, on 9/11, those of us who were in this body, as the sun set over Washington, we took to the steps. We held hands and we sang ``God Bless America.'' We committed ourselves to working together to strengthen our homeland security, not as Republicans, not as Democrats, but as Members of Congress whose constituents expect us to keep them safe--whose constituents expect us to put aside whatever disagreements we have on whatever other issues there may be and at least agree on their fundamental right to be safe. That is the expectation. And now, Madam Speaker, we have a bill that should not be controversial, that should fund our homeland security, but it has been turned into a divisive political strategy on immigration. {time} 1145 Madam Speaker, let's face it. This bill is not about homeland security; this bill is about Republican political security. It is an injustice to those who suffered on 9/11 and still remember that.…”