James Lankford: “We agree this is an issue that needs to be funded, that needs to be taken care of--whether it is North Carolina or…”

“We agree this is an issue that needs to be funded, that needs to be taken care of--whether it is North Carolina or whether it is California or whether it is flooding or tornadoes that have happened across the Midwest. Our challenge has been that we have been in a government shutdown in DHS, now for 2 months--2 months. We have got to be able to get those funds released. That means we have got to get DHS funding completely done for all of DHS. We have FEMA employees that are being paid, but they don't have program dollars that they can actually release. So we need the full funding to actually be complete on this. This particular bill, what we are debating tonight, is just ICE and CBP. It is just that narrow area. This body has already passed the rest of DHS funding. We have got to be able to finish the ICE and CBP portion. So I would encourage my colleagues to be able to vote no because this bill is not about FEMA, though we, as a body, have already voted to say, 'Yes, this needs to be funded,' and have already agreed with that.”