Rosa DeLauro

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, there is also support to require agencies to get a warrant from a judge before kicking in somebody's door, require the removal of masks, require badges and identification, allow independent investigations into wrongdoing, end racial profiling, and end roving patrols. Let me just say what I am sick and tired of is listening to the crocodile tears that are being shed on the other side of the aisle for the Federal employees who work at these agencies. They couldn't care less. I will give you examples. The President's budget had a $500 million cut to cybersecurity. Where were they when that happened? Where were they when President Trump and Kristi Noem talked about dismantling FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency? Where were they on all of these bills when their guru, Elon Musk, said a thousand people could go from the cybersecurity agency? There wasn't a peep out of them for that. It is disingenuous. They know it. The public knows it. In fact, they want to support ICE and CBP, but they don't want to support the Federal employees. Vote ``no'' on the previous question.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Maryland for standing and speaking today about something that should be a bipartisan effort, a unanimous consent effort to make sure that those public servants who fight every single day, come to work, and play by the rules are funded. In this body, there is agreement that we need to fund TSA. We need to fund the Coast Guard. We need to fund FEMA, the Secret Service, and cybersecurity. Those are integral parts of our government. They serve a great purpose to the American people. There is not a shred of difference between Democrats and Republicans on those issues. Why then can we not by unanimous consent say let us fund these agencies through the rest of the year? Where we have serious disagreements with ICE or CBP, we can, on a parallel track, be able to address those issues. I could not be more proud to have worked on a bipartisan basis, to pass 11 appropriations bills, 11 of our appropriations bills, reclaiming the power of the purse for the Congress, as it should be. That is what we are doing here with making sure that we can fund these agencies through the rest of the year. There are serious difficulties with ICE. The American public gets it. They understand it. This is a marauding band of masked and armed agents all over our streets, terrorizing our communities and being responsible for the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. It is unconscionable. The Democrats have made reasonable demands for reform, reforms that have been in the public view now for a very long time. How about we don't detain and deport American citizens? How about we unmask? How about we use body cameras? How about we obtain a warrant before you knock on somebody's door? How about we train officers, serious training, not 47 days of training? These are absolutely bedrock reforms that can be done, and we can overhaul an agency, make it run as it is supposed to be run. Do we need to have border enforcement? Yes, but this is out of control. That is the debate that we should be having and the negotiation that we should be having, not on the agencies that play such a role. Look, we just had serious snowstorms all over the country. My State of Connecticut declared an emergency. Aren't we going to indicate that we are going to deal with FEMA and help people out? Very simply speaking, it is a simple premise. Let's take the Department of Homeland Security bill where we have major agreement on the bulk of the bill, let us pass the bill in that context and fund those agencies, take care of those folks, and fight for demands on reforming ICE and CBC.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committees on Appropriations and Budget be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 7481, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. There are two paths before us today: one if this bill passes and another if it fails. If we take the first path, if the bill passes, here is what will happen: The Departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, State, Treasury, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development will be fully funded through the end of September. The Democratic wins we secured in this bill will be locked in. We will reject $163 billion in cuts to public services proposed by President Trump. We will increase funding for the National Institutes of Health biomedical research by $450 million. We will provide over $66 billion for rental assistance programs. We turn back in the Labor-HHS bill 47 programs that the administration had slotted for elimination. In the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, 24 programs were slotted for elimination. We reversed that. We will increase funding for childcare and Head Start by $170 million, secure an additional $5.5 billion for humanitarian assistance, and boost funding for Federal Public Defenders by $350 million. We will establish meaningful constraints on the Trump Administration's ability to abuse the budget process, take expansive power over Federal funding, Federal spending away from Russ Vought, and reclaim it for the Congress. If not, the President and Russ Vought will be in charge of the funds, and we will have no say. At the same time, funding for the Department of Homeland Security will continue at its current level for 10 days. It is important to note that is about 6 legislative days. If we do not pass another bill by next Friday, the Department will shut down. Having passed the other full-year funding bills today, every other department would remain open. If we are not satisfied with where we are in those 10 days--6 legislative days--we can withhold our votes without jeopardizing all of the important Democratic priorities I just laid out and more. We will be in the strongest possible position to fight for and win the drastic changes we all know are needed to protect our communities: judicial warrant requirements, no more detentions or deportations of United States citizens, an enforceable code of conduct, taking off the masks, putting the badges on, requiring body cameras, and real accountability for the egregious abuses we have seen. If we choose the second path, however, if this bill does not pass, none of that happens. Instead, we enter a prolonged government shutdown. Workers across broad swaths of the Federal Government would be furloughed, public services would be scaled back, paychecks would be missed. My Republican colleagues will only talk about those not getting paychecks--and you can hear it already--instead of my Republican colleagues having to defend the Department of Homeland Security with what is happening across the country with these lawless, reckless, out- of-control agencies marauding over our cities and towns and striking people where they work and where they live. Instead of increasing funding for the National Institutes of Health, new research grants would be frozen, interrupting efforts to treat and prevent deadly diseases. Instead of providing funding for rental assistance, payments would be delayed and families would face the prospect of eviction. Instead of increasing funding for Head Start, Health and Human Services would be unable to issue new grants, jeopardizing access to early education for countless children across this country. Instead of reclaiming Congress' power of the purse, we would concede even more discretion to Russ Vought and the White House to abuse the budget process for their own partisan gain, which they would certainly exploit, as we have seen. In 10 days--6 legislative days--we would be in the same place with regard to Homeland Security. We would have had the bill passed; except we will have lost all of the Democratic priorities I have laid out. I have no illusions about ICE and CBP. We must rein in these rogue agencies. We need to protect our communities. We need to protect the people and the children in our communities. We must have accountability for the egregious abuses we have seen. It is understandable the rage and the fear in the outrageousness of what these activities have been all over this country. The only way we can get these things is to fight for them, win them, and let the public know what we are fighting for. Passing these five, full-year funding bills today puts us in the best position to win that fight over the next 10 days--the 6 legislative days--and beyond, if need be. I strongly encourage my colleagues to support this bill today and continue to fight to protect our communities in the coming weeks. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the distinguished ranking member of the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Maryland.

Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland.

Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn), the distinguished ranking member of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Case), a member of the Appropriations Committee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Hawaii.

Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, I just would outline for a moment the impacts of the failure to pass the five bipartisan, House-passed spending measures and what that would do. For military personnel, an extended shutdown will harm both military and civilian personnel at DOD who could not legally receive pay during a shutdown. Federal courts would no longer have funding to sustain full-paid operations, and the courts can only carry out limited functions. The Community Development Financial Institutions, if that lapses, the money will be withheld in funding for almost 1,500 credit unions, banks, and community financial institutions. The SBA would be unable to approve $170 million per day in loan assistance. For the Social Security Administration, thousands of Social Security Administration employees would likely be furloughed, there would be delays on the SSA's 800 number and limited hours of operation. At the National Institutes of Health, it would freeze funding for new research grants, including research on cancer, Alzheimer's, ALS, heart disease, diabetes, kidneys, mental health, maternal mortality, infectious diseases, genetic diseases, and the list goes on and on. Community health centers would receive only partial funding to provide healthcare services for low-income patients. For Head Start, if funding lapses, thousands of low-income children would be at risk to losing access to Head Start programs. Senior nutrition grants are at risk, Meals on Wheels as well as congregate meals. Worker protection agencies would likely furlough Federal staff who are responsible for investigating wage theft and safety and health hazards in high-risk areas. That is just a small smattering of the impact of the failure to pass these five bipartisan bills, where we had 341 ``yes'' votes in this Chamber not 3 weeks ago. Now, some might say: Well, what do you think about what ICE and the CBP are doing? I am not unaware of that. I share the anger. I share the outrage of what they have done. Yes, it is Minnesota, but it is also what is happening all over this country. People are being beat up. They are being pulled out of schools, pulled out of churches, and people are so frightened to death that they carry their passports with them. They are American citizens, and they are frightened. What have we proposed in this area? This is when we were doing the appropriations bill: Prohibition on detaining or deporting U.S. citizens, reducing funding for ICE, prohibition on the use of Border Patrol and CBP officers, a requirement for DHS law enforcement to use body-worn cameras, require reporting on the use of force, training standards--they should be trained in de-escalation, and that is what ought to be happening instead of fomenting escalation--requiring ICE warrants, and there are other things. I might add, just so that the people on the committee here understand, in June of 2025, the House Committee on Appropriations advanced the fiscal year 2026 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill. It included bipartisan reforms and safeguards designed to protect U.S. citizens and vulnerable communities. However, when the bill was renegotiated in January 2026, these critical reforms were removed. Democrats and Republicans voted for these reforms, and they must do it again. The list goes on: No funds if DHS violates the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment, the Fifth Amendment; no funds for detaining and deporting U.S. citizens; no prohibition on video recording for ICE. This was all passed in the Committee on Appropriations and then stripped out. The fact of the matter is we need to focus like a laser in these 10 days--6 legislative days--on DHS. Let's not have to focus on five agencies where there is agreement on what we do. There is agreement on our side of the aisle. Despite what the press may report, there is not a single Democrat in this body who believes what ICE and the CBP are doing is acceptable. I cannot believe that a number of my Republican colleagues don't feel the same way. Let us focus in on the Department of Homeland Security. Let the public understand the nature of the fight. Quite honestly, let my Republican colleagues at the administration defend the Department of Homeland Security and its lawlessness and recklessness when the majority of this country are seeing what they are doing. We all want the same thing. We want to keep our constituents safe. We want to stop the violence in our streets. We want to end chaos in our communities that these out-of-control agencies have created. The simple truth is we have a better chance of imposing real constraints on ICE and the CBP if this bill passes than if it fails. We have a better chance at securing justice, justice for Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and all of those people all over this country who have been harassed, who have been beaten, who have been taken out of their homes, 5-year-old children being detained. That is the reality. Nobody wants that. However, we have a better chance of justice for these folks if this bill passes rather than if it fails. We have a better chance of putting an end to what has become a season of terror if this bill passes than if it fails. I am asking my colleagues to understand the moment and meet the moment. We have an opportunity over these next several days to lay out the arguments against what the Department of Homeland Security, its leadership, and what this administration has wrought on the American people. We serve in this body to be responsive to the American people. They are clamoring, and they are crying out for help. We can help them with passing five bills that meet their needs, and we can help them by gaining control and focusing our ire and our anger over an agency that is run, in my view, by incompetence, by lies, and by terror. That is not who we are. Those are not the values of the American people. Those are not the values of the people in this body. Everyone sees what is happening. We can't let go of the gains that have been made that make a difference in people's lives, in the education of their kids and their health and their safety, of looking at substance abuse and opioid addiction and how we can deal with that, transportation, rent assistance, homeless assistance, maternal mortality, childcare, and Head Start. There are two paths that we face today. One: If we pass the bills and see what our opportunities are to make a difference and make changes in an agency so needed to be changed--and I do believe we all recognize that--and at the same time to save the American people. We understand the crisis of the cost of living that you have. We are there to defend you and your family and to make life and make government work on your behalf. That is our responsibility. I view that as my responsibility as the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee. This is the way our government functions, and we have a better chance to end this season of terror. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Chair, I yield myself 5 minutes. Madam Chair, I rise in support of the measure before us today, which includes the Labor-HHS-Education, Transportation-Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Defense appropriations bills. I will begin by thanking Ranking Member Betty McCollum and Ranking Member Jim Clyburn for their fine work on the Defense and Transportation bills, respectively. Both bills are remarkably strong agreements that serve as testaments to their tenacity as negotiators. I also thank Chairman Calvert and Chairman Womack and my counterpart on the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, Chairman Aderholt, for his partnership in reaching a strong agreement on our bill, as well. None of this would have been possible without the incredible work of the committee staff. In particular, Stephen Steigleder, Jennifer Chartrand, Christina Monroe, Jackie Kilroy, Laurie Mignone, Philip Tizzani, Nora Faye, Ed Etzkorn, and Jason Gray. Lastly, I express my appreciation for my friend and counterpart on the full committee, Chairman Cole, and the majority staff. This package is a strong, bipartisan, bicameral agreement that rejects the Trump administration's efforts to eviscerate public services and reasserts Congress' power of the purse. It rejects efforts to dismantle the Department of Education, instead providing $79 billion in funding for K-12 education programs, financial aid, support for students with disabilities, and much more. It redoubles our efforts in investments in biomedical research, increasing NIH funding by $415 million, and supporting efforts to develop treatments and cures for cancer, Alzheimer's, ALS, and other deadly diseases. It provides more than $9 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to protect and promote our Nation's public health. It increases funding for SAMHSA to provide mental health support and to advance our battle against addiction. This bill supports families feeling the squeeze from the cost-of- living crisis by investing in affordable housing and protecting funding for rental assistance as the cost of housing continues to climb. These and other efforts will prevent more than 4 million American households from being evicted. Additionally, this package provides funding for a 3.8 percent pay raise for the brave men and women who serve our country in uniform. It increases funding for medical research by $1.7 billion, supporting research to develop treatment for diseases and service-related injuries. At a time of international uncertainty, this bill shores up support for our European allies and does not include any additional funding for operations in Venezuela or the Caribbean. You can measure the success of these negotiations by the distance between what was initially proposed and what was ultimately agreed to. When you look at the numbers, it is astonishing. In the Labor-HHS bill alone, we rejected more than $50 billion in proposed cuts. The Transportation-Housing bill provides $46 billion more than the White House had proposed. There are over 50 programs across these two bills that Republicans proposed to outright eliminate but are ultimately funded in this package. I consider that a success. In addition, this package contains important provisions to rein in the Trump administration. It provides funding levels, removing ambiguity that the White House has sought to exploit in the past. It establishes deadlines for required spending, provides minimum staffing thresholds to prevent agencies from being hollowed out, and increases notification requirements to ensure the administration is complying with the laws that Congress makes. I am proud of the work that was done on these bills, and I encourage my colleagues to support this package. Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Chair, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn), the distinguished ranking member of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Chair, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from South Carolina.

Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Chair, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from South Carolina.

Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Chair, before I introduce my next speaker, I will say that it is an honor to serve in this institution with Chair Womack, and he understands why we are here and what we are about. He has demonstrated that at great personal cost. The gentleman said something about friendship. In this body, friendship needs to transcend whatever political difficulties or differences that we have, and he is an extraordinary individual, someone who I call my friend, and I am pleased to do that. We all are in support of whatever his needs are now and for the future. He is an incredible human being, and I am proud to know him. Madam Chair, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. McCollum), the distinguished ranking member of the Defense Subcommittee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Lois Frankel), the distinguished ranking member of the Subcommittee on National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Dean), a member of the Appropriations Committee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Mrvan), a member of the Appropriations Committee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), the distinguished ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.