LEADER JEFFRIES FLOOR REMARKS OPPOSING REPUBLICAN BILL FUNDING ICE BRUTALITY AND CONTINUING AIRPORT CHAOS

Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke on the House Floor against House Republicans' DHS funding bill that refuses to hold ICE accountable and subjects Americans to increasingly more airport chaos.

LEADER JEFFRIES: I rise today in strong opposition to this partisan political stunt that Republicans have brought to the Floor, masquerading as legitimate legislation. There's a bipartisan bill that if brought to the Floor today can end the 42-day Trump-Republican shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. Republicans have concluded that they would rather continue to force TSA agents to work without pay, inconvenience millions of Americans all across the country and create chaos at airports. Why is this happening? It's because Republicans have chosen to continue to authorize spending billions of taxpayer dollars to brutalize or kill American citizens like Renee Nicole Good or Alex Pretti or to violently target law-abiding immigrant families.

Mr. Speaker, we believe that immigration enforcement in this country should be fair, just and humane. That's not what's happening right now. ICE is out of control. The American people know it, which is why changes need to be made that are bold, meaningful, dramatic, transformational and common sense at the same period of time. Instead, Republicans have chosen to double and triple down on their extremism, on their brutality and on their violence that has been unleashed on everyday Americans all across the country.

Now, there's a bipartisan bill sent over from the Senate. Every single Senate Democrat, every single Senate Republican supported that legislation. It would reopen the TSA, reopen FEMA, reopen the Coast Guard, reopen the ability for our cybersecurity professionals to do their job, while at the same time allowing for discussions-tough negotiations-to continue. On one side of that negotiations are my Republican colleagues who want to continue to spend taxpayer dollars to brutalize and kill American citizens, unleashing masked, untrained ICE agents, in some cases storming homes of everyday Americans, ripping them out of their beds in the middle of the night, ripping children away from their families, detaining people in inhumane conditions, refusing to allow state and local authorities to investigate ICE violence and brutality in ways that will be designed to bring about accountability.

This debate, at the end of the day, is really all about: Do you want to compel ICE to conduct themselves like every other cop, police officer or law enforcement agency in the country? Or do you want to continue to spend billions of taxpayer dollars to violently target American citizens and law abiding immigrant families? We choose the American way-fair, just and humane. Now, many of my Republican colleagues have come to the Floor to suggest that this legislation is about defunding ICE. That's a stone cold lie. Because we know that in the Republican One Big Ugly Bill, which ripped away Medicaid from 14 million Americans, the largest cut-almost a trillion dollars-to Medicaid in American history, at the same period of time, extremist Republicans in their One Big Ugly Bill enacted a $186 billion cut to nutritional assistance-literally ripped food from the mouths of hungry children, seniors and veterans.

And why did Republicans do that in their One Big Ugly Bill? In part, to provide their billionaire donors with massive tax breaks that they did not need and did not deserve. And, at the same period of time, give the Department of Homeland Security $191 billion-watch this-$75 billion in a slush fund to ICE. Is that defunding? No. The One Big Ugly Bill defunded Medicaid. It defunded nutritional assistance for everyday Americans. It defunded some affordable housing programs. It defunded the ability for everyday Americans who are struggling under Republican policies to actually afford their utility bills. That was the defunding that has taken place in this chamber during this Congress.

Defunding ICE? How do you stand up here as Republicans and say that to the American people with a straight face when you gave ICE a $75 billion slush fund and then turned around and gave CBP a $65 billion slush fund in the same One Big Ugly Bill? The reality is that we can end this shutdown-this 42-day extreme Trump-Republican shutdown-today if Republicans had the courage and the patriotism to actually bring a bipartisan Senate-passed bill to the Floor, which would pass this chamber with Democratic and Republican votes, maybe not the extremists, but it would pass with Democratic and Republican votes.

Mike Johnson has chosen to say no to a bipartisan bill so he could say yes to continuing to force TSA agents to work without pay. Mike Johnson has said no to a bipartisan bill so he can say yes to continuing to inconvenience millions of the American people across the country. Mike Johnson has said no to a bipartisan bill so House Republicans could say yes to chaos at airports all across the country. Mike Johnson has said no to a bipartisan bill so House Republicans can continue to say yes to ICE brutality. Mike Johnson has said no to a bipartisan Senate-passed bill so House Republican could continue to say yes to ICE violence. Mike Johnson has said no to a bipartisan Senate-passed bill so House Republicans could continue to say yes to the corruption that we've seen at the Department of Homeland Security. Mike Johnson has said no to a bipartisan Senate-passed bill that would reopen the Department of Homeland Security so House Republicans could say yes to the Freedom Caucus, which is clearly driving the train here.

And it was amazing to me that, at the Rules Committee, you had some Republican Members try to lecture America about Article I and separate and co-equal branches of government. Really? You want to talk about the House and the Senate? I'm not interested in that debate. Let's talk about the difference between Article I and Article II. Because the framers of this Constitution designed the Article I branch, the Congress, to be the first amongst equals. That's not how House Republicans have been acting from the very beginning of this Congress.

Instead, House Republicans running around this town acting like nothing more than a reckless rubber stamp to Donald Trump's extreme agenda. And that's what's happening right now. Because what House Republicans want to do is to continue to fund Donald Trump's violent extreme mass deportation machine that has resulted in the death of at least three American citizens. Lecture us about Article I and Article II. You've got to be kidding. And so, Mr. Speaker, I'm going to continue to speak truth to power on this Floor as a duly elected Member. And the more you stand, the longer I'll speak. And so, our view is very clear. We can reopen this government today if you bring to the House Floor a bipartisan Senate-passed bill today because as Democrats, we believe that immigration enforcement in this country should be fair, it should be just and it should be humane.

Donald Trump promised to target violent felons who are here illegally. That's what Republicans promised. You've broken your word. It's American citizens and law-abiding immigrant families who are being targeted violently by untrained and masked ICE agents. Our position is pretty clear. Let's pay TSA. Let's fund FEMA. Let's fund the Coast Guard. Let's fund our cybersecurity professionals. Stop holding the American people hostage to an extreme right-wing agenda. Taxpayer dollars should be spent to make life more affordable for the American people.

That's what Democrats will continue to focus on in an environment where life has become more expensive under the extreme policies that President Trump and House Republicans continue to jam down the throats of the American people. The Trump tariffs, increasing costs on everyday Americans by millions of dollars in totality, thousands of dollars per year for everyday Americans as a family. House Republicans have refused, Senate Republicans refused, Donald Trump refused to do anything to make life more affordable. Housing costs are out of control. Healthcare costs are out of control. Grocery bills are out of control. Gas prices are out of control because Republicans have decided to get us into a reckless war of choice in the Middle East, spending billions of dollars to drop bombs in Iran.

Mr. Speaker, we're here dealing with a partisan spending bill that the Senate has already indicated is dead on arrival. And so Republicans have taken the decision to own this shutdown decisively. There is no doubt-as Ranking Member Jim McGovern stated earlier-there is no doubt as to why we are still facing a shutdown that is inflicting pain and chaos and uncertainty on the American people.

So I rise in strong opposition to this so-called spending bill-dead on arrival-that will do nothing, accomplish nothing other than continuing the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security and the chaos that Republicans have unleashed in airports all across America. House Democrats are going to continue to fight for what is right. We're going to continue to fight to lower the high cost of living, fix our broken healthcare system, clean up corruption, stop this reckless war of choice in the Middle East, get ICE under control, pay TSA, end the chaos at these airports and end this national nightmare that Donald Trump and Republicans are inflicting upon the American people.

Vote no against this partisan political stunt. Let's say yes instead to a bipartisan bill that would reopen the Department of Homeland Security, end the chaos at airports and stop the inconvenience of the American people.

Full Floor speech can be watched here.

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