Senator Collins Delivers Floor Remarks on DHS Shutdown

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Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, spoke on the Senate floor today to urge Democrats to come to the table to work to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

A full transcript of Senator Collins' remarks are as follows:

"Mr. President, I rise to urge my colleagues to end the reckless Democratic shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.

"This shutdown has caused chaos at our airports, delayed assistance to communities hit by disasters, and forced thousands of essential frontline employees at TSA, at the Coast Guard, at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, to work without any guarantee of when they will be paid. More than 50,000 TSA agents and officers who help keep us safe are currently working without pay, with many forced to find second or new jobs to make ends meet. Some are so discouraged that they have quit. Over the weekend, we saw security lines at some American airports stretch for more than three hours as a result of TSA staffing shortages.

"And what, Mr. President, is the Democratic response? According to one Democratic Senator, they are 'very serene with what is going on.'

"How can you be serene, Mr. President, when you have increased the danger to the United States of contraband being smuggled into this country, or a terrorist attack occurring, or illegal substances being smuggled into our airports. Mr. President, I don't like to be partisan, but the fact is, the American people need to know that the Democrats created this chaos when they walked away from the bipartisan, fully-negotiated DHS funding bill and then blocked repeated Republican attempts to pass a short-term funding measure to prevent these disruptions that are so harmful, both to our country's security and to employees, while the negotiations continue.

"They claim that they need meaningful policy changes to support fully funding the Department, but their approach to resolving this impasse has been characterized by a lack of urgency and a lack of seriousness. We are nearly a month into the shutdown of this vital department, and today marks two weeks of the Senate Democratic leadership sitting on what is a good faith offer from the White House to end the shutdown.

"Democrats have even rebuffed entreaties from Senate Republican negotiators to meet, to bridge the differences between the two sides, to discuss the White House offer, which, believe me, answers many of the concerns that have been raised, without endangering our law enforcement officers.

"Instead, they put forward a bill that takes the bipartisan measure that we negotiated in January and completely strips the funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Now, while defunding ICE and CBP may resonate well with far-left activists, it is not a serious public policy solution.

"I want to take a moment to highlight some of the work that ICE and CBP do, which goes far beyond immigration enforcement and helps to keep our country safe. Mr. President, more than a quarter of ICE's annual appropriated budget is for Homeland Security Investigations, referred to as HSI. This unit is charged with investigating the illegal movement of people, goods, contraband, weapons, and sensitive technology into, out of, and through the United States. HSI's agents are tasked with combating cartels, human smuggling, child exploitation, forced labor, and investigating international financial crimes. Do we really want to defund those vital investigations, Mr. President? I think not.

"CBP too does far more than just immigration enforcement. It is responsible for facilitating legal trade and travel throughout the United States. It screens goods for drugs and protects us industry through its efforts to detect illegal imports, duty evasions, and counterfeits. Its Office of Trade works to ensure that products made with forced labor are not allowed into our country and that businesses are unable to profit from human trafficking. CBP's Air and Marine Operations patrols our maritime borders. Its agricultural specialists work to prevent the spread of pests and foreign plants being brought into this country.

"Last Congress, Mr. President, the Democratic leadership of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee held a hearing, an excellent hearing entitled, 'Combating Transnational Criminal Organizations and Related Trafficking.' The witnesses for that hearing were, not surprisingly, representatives of HSI and CBP. These agencies and their work and the importance of it were highlighted, and I quote the Democratic Appropriations lead, who said they are playing 'a critical role in interrupting the flow of fentanyl into the United States.' That same Democratic Senator said proposed cuts to these accounts would be catastrophic to their ability to fight cartels. Now, the other side of the aisle suggests that we defund those exact same efforts.

"Mr. President, we cannot continue this way. Real challenges are worthy of a serious response -- a response that does not harm our country. Today, Republicans are again taking steps to restore funding to the Department of Homeland Security and these critical missions. Shortly, we will have an opportunity to vote on allowing the Senate to debate and amend the Homeland Security appropriations bills. Once on the bill, I believe that we should consider the White House's good faith February 26 offer, which the Democrats have yet to respond to, even though it addresses many of the concerns that they have raised and that many of us have raised.

"This offer would build on the reforms that were included in the bipartisan funding bill negotiated earlier this year, which included new safeguards to protect the American public and our law enforcement and increased oversight. For example, our bipartisan bill had $20 million which we added for body-worn cameras. Those cameras help to protect both law enforcement officers and the people with whom they are interacting. But the White House offer would go considerably further, by increasing substantially the funding for the body-worn cameras. I don't know what my Democratic colleagues would not see that as great progress. It goes beyond what we had previously negotiated in a completely bipartisan way.

"There are many other critically important, substantive reforms that are included in the White House's offer. But what do we hear from the Democratic leadership? Nothing in the two weeks since the offer was submitted. They won't even sit down and discuss the offer. I just do not understand it. The White House's offer represents a good faith, honest attempt to find reasonable compromises on the differences with our Democratic colleagues. It deserves a good faith, reasonable, honest response; instead, silence.

"Mr. President, the stakes are far too high. To my Democratic colleagues, please stop playing political games when so much is at stake. Work with us to govern. Let's be responsible. Mr. President, it's time for our Democratic colleagues to get serious. Thank you, Mr. President."