Thune: Democrats Still Not Serious About Reaching DHS Funding Agreement

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WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:

Thune's remarks below (as delivered):

"Mr. President, we have one week and one day left to pass the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill.

"Democrats demanded a tight timeline for the DHS continuing resolution.

"Republicans warned Democrats repeatedly that such a short timeline would be challenging, if not impossible.

"But to prevent Democrats from shutting down a big part of the government and denying paychecks to soldiers and federal workers, we ultimately gave it to them.

"Now the onus is on Democrats to negotiate in good faith and reach an agreement quickly.

"Notice I said negotiate, Mr. President.

"This is not a blank-check situation, where Republicans just agree to a list of Democrat demands.

"Democrats had previously agreed to a Homeland Security appropriations bill, which included additional money for body cameras as well as deescalation training for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and additional oversight … of funds that have already been appropriated to DHS.

"Those are all things that were agreed upon when that bill was initially negotiated and supported by Democrats in the House and the Senate.

"Well now, Mr. President, they've reopened negotiations.

"And that means taking up ideas and priorities from both sides.

"We need to have a serious discussion about the climate of harassment - and worse - that law enforcement officers have been facing for simply trying to do their jobs.

"We also need to address the issue of cooperation between local and federal law enforcement.

"Too many jurisdictions prohibit local law enforcement from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement - a situation that makes things more dangerous for everyone.

"The president's border czar, Tom Homan, yesterday announced that the Department of Homeland Security will be withdrawing 700 federal agents from Minnesota - in large part because of increased cooperation from local law enforcement.

"So I hope my Democrat colleagues are ready to have some conversations with the White House about these and other issues.

"The White House has demonstrated that it's taking things seriously - and it has already resulted in body cams for all officers deployed to Minneapolis and, as I said, the drawdown of federal agents thanks to the increased cooperation from local law enforcement that Tom Homan has facilitated.

"I want to see my Democrat colleagues take things seriously as well.

"Mr. President, I'd also like to remind Democrats that they are putting funding for some critical government agencies in jeopardy.

"TSA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, are all funded by the DHS appropriations bill.

"I think all Americans remember the travel disaster Democrats created by shutting down the government for 43 days last fall.

"Should Democrats fail to agree to a DHS bill and shut down the TSA as a result, there's a very good chance we could see more travel problems.

"I'd also like to remind my Democrat colleagues that the only way to get any reforms at ICE is to agree to a bill.

"A CR would not include any of the reforms already included, as I said earlier, in the DHS bill, which they helped negotiate and supported before they changed their mind and didn't support it - and a CR certainly wouldn't include any new reforms.

"The Democrat leader was complaining about the announcement about body cams for federal officers in Minneapolis, asking why it wasn't for the whole country.

"Well, Mr. President, I'd like to remind him that the DHS bill we negotiated already includes money for additional body cameras - somewhere on the order of $20 million for additional body cameras.

"The Democrat leader also complained that he doesn't trust the administration's reforms, and that we need a law.

"Well, getting a law is well within Democrats' power.

"But again, Democrats have to be willing to actually reach an agreement.

"If they're coming to the table demanding a blank check, or refusing to consider any measures but their own, they're likely to end up with nothing.

"Which is fine if Democrats just want a political issue.

"But if they actually want to do something, then, again, they're going to have to be willing to reach agreement with the White House on a final bill.

"One week and one day more, Mr. President.

"That is the timeline that the Democrats demanded - and I say demanded - and actually got, they were granted.

"After having negotiated a six-bill package, which included the DHS appropriations bill, they decided, 'No, we're not going to do that.'

"People want to blame the White House.

"They want to blame Republicans.

"Republicans had nothing to do with that.

"It passed the House, the six-bill package, including the DHS appropriations bill, with 341 votes in the U.S. House of Representatives.

"Almost 80 percent of the entire House had cleared the DHS appropriations bill that was included in the package that the Senate was going to vote on, that the House had already passed.

"And then it came over here and the Democrats decided to blow it up.

"All of a sudden, the bill that they helped negotiate and write and be a part of, which included all the reforms that I mentioned - deescalation training, body cameras, all those things were included in the bill that they said they didn't then want to pass.

"So they wanted a separate discussion about those issues and demanded that if we didn't give them that, they weren't going to vote for the package.

"And so they got what they wanted.

"And then we had a debate about, how long should the CR go for to allow the sides to come together behind an agreement?

"And I suggested, Mr. President, our side suggested that perhaps six weeks would be a sufficient amount of time to have an earnest negotiation with all the parties at the table, and then time to execute actually passing whatever is agreed upon across the floor of the House and the Senate and getting it on the president's desk.

"The Democrats demanded a two-week CR or they wouldn't vote for the package, and so they got what they wanted, which is a two-week continuing resolution to fund the Department of Homeland Security and the other things I mentioned - FEMA, TSA, Coast Guard, all those things - for two weeks.

"And yet they haven't appeared yet to want to negotiate on all the things that they're demanding.

"They put out a list of demands yesterday.

"Our team, our folks have tried to get with them, to sit down at the table and with the White House to reach an agreement that would enable the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill to actually be passed here in the Senate and the House and sent to the president.

"But that is not, right now, even in the realm of possibility, Mr. President, because they're not engaging.

"We've got a now one week and one day timeframe in which to do this, which is entirely unrealistic, and a Democrat Party in both the House and the Senate which seems a lot less interested in getting a solution to this than they do in having a political issue.

"Well, Mr. President, if, for some reason, the Department of Homeland Security ends up in a shutdown, it is going to be totally on them.

"They will own it.

"We have tried repeatedly.

"They have agreed repeatedly, before they decided not to agree and to demand something else, which they also got.

"But as of right now, we aren't anywhere close to having any sort of an agreement that would enable us to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

"And so Mr. President, I would hope that the Democrats will come to the table.

"The timeline that they asked for has been granted, and I hope that they are finally ready to get this done.

"It's important for the American people.

"All these agencies - Federal Emergency Management Agency, which oversees disasters in this country.

"We've got a number of weather-related disasters in this country that are going to require the able attention of FEMA.

"A lot of important agencies, Mr. President, that won't go funded if they remain in this posture of resisting anything that doesn't give them all of their demands.

"But worse yet, Mr. President, not only insisting on all the demands - most of which are, as they know, very unrealistic and unserious - but perhaps even more important than that, at least as of right now, not even willing to engage in a negotiation and discussion to try and reach a result.

"Mr. President, I hope that changes.

"I want to get this done.

"We want to get this done.

"I hope that there are Democrats who also want to get this done.

"And I know the president of the United States is prepared to sign a bill once these negotiations get underway and we reach an agreement."

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