Barbara Mikulski

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I wish to recognize the bicentennial of our national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner, and of Defenders Day. I thank Senator Cardin, my partner in the Senate, for submitting a resolution to commemorate this occasion. Defenders Day, which inspired our national anthem, is momentous in the history of our Nation, the State of Maryland, and the City of Baltimore. Two hundred years ago, the brave City of Baltimore led the way in the War of 1812 defending our Nation and holding the American line. Our troops stopped the British advance and claimed a much-needed victory for Baltimore and for the Nation. Some call the War of 1812 the forgotten war. I believe it was the war that forged our Nation. As the United States entered the war, it was a loose collection of States. As we emerged from it, we were on the path to becoming a true Nation. It was also during this war at the Battle of Baltimore that we gained an enduring icon of national patriotism in our National anthem, inspired by the naval battle at Fort McHenry. Fort McHenry is now a revered National monument and a historic shrine. The Battle of Baltimore was a rousing victory in the dark days following the British attack on our Capitol. The British had just burned Washington, setting our Capitol and White House ablaze, and hurting America's morale. Less than a month later, the British sent a fleet of ships toward Baltimore sailing up the Bay to break America at the war's frontline in what is known today as Patterson Park, but first they had to get past Fort McHenry. The British bombed the Fort for twenty-five consecutive hours. Nearby, a young lawyer named Francis Scott Key watched from a ship where he was being held. When the smoke cleared on the morning of September 14, 1814, he saw the fifteen stars and fifteen stripes of the American flag streaming over the Fort. He was so thrilled that despite the bombs bursting in the air, ``our flag was still there.'' He went on to write the lines of the song that later became our National anthem, the Star Spangled Banner. That day the line was held in Baltimore in our young country's war against the world's most powerful Nation. Fort McHenry has made history, and Fort McHenry has seen history. I am proud to represent Fort McHenry and Baltimore, and I encourage the passage of this resolution commemorating Fort McHenry, Defenders Day, and the Star Spangled Banner.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, today we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act, a landmark piece of legislation that continues to improve the lives of millions of women, their families, and the communities that support them. I was proud to cosponsor this legislation when it was originally enacted in 1994, led by then-Senator, now-Vice President Biden. And I was proud to fight for its reauthorizations in 2000, 2005, and 2013, each time refining and building upon the great work that VAWA does each day. This legislation stands today as an as an example of what we are really called here to do--meeting people's day-to-day needs. That means protecting people, making their lives better, and providing vital resources to those in need. No woman in this country should live in fear that her partner will hurt or kill her or her kids. I have zero tolerance for domestic violence. If you are beaten and abused, you should have somewhere to turn for help and a path to recovery. VAWA is crucial in all of our communities. Every day VAWA is providing services to families in desperate need. I hear from my constituents far too often about the challenges they are facing, often involving significant economic struggles only to be complicated by deep emotional pain and fear. Here are the statistics: 1 in 4 women will be victims of domestic violence. 16 million children are exposed to domestic violence every day. And over 2 million will be victims themselves of physical or sexual violence each year. 20,000 of these cases are in my own State of Maryland. Since we created the legislation in 1994, the national hotline has received millions of calls. Millions of women felt in danger and had the chance of being rescued. In my own State of Maryland VAWA is making recovery possible for victims by finding them legal help to separate from their abusers. They are also getting vital services at rape crisis centers and navigating our immigration system to ensure protection. Through the years I have heard from too many Marylanders about their struggles. Fortunately, VAWA programs existed to help them. I heard from one of my constituents, Jean on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Jean was married to her husband for 10 years and shared 2 children. She benefited from VAWA's Legal Assistance for Victims Grant after being abused so brutally one evening. Jean called the hotline and got the legal assistance to file for a protective order, which she ultimately was awarded and is now living her life safely with her children. I also heard from Danielle. Danielle was sexually assaulted at the age of 19 by an associate that she knew. She was aided by VAWA's Sexual Assault Services program when she made the connection with the rape crisis center a few days after her attack. Danielle got the support she needed at the crisis center. She received personalized safety planning and counseling and was provided a lawyer to help her get a peace order. I also hear from law enforcement in Maryland who say VAWA is helping them make communities safer. The Lethality Assessment Program, pioneered in Maryland and now a model for the Nation, was strengthened in the last VAWA reauthorization. The program is used to identify high risk situations at the outset to link up local police with domestic violence professionals to provide wrap around services and empowerment to get victims out of harm's way and reduce homicides. This was made possible because of VAWA which provided the Federal funding to make this a reality. As chair of the appropriations subcommittee that funds the Justice Department, I have secured funding for the Violence Against Women Act programs at the highest levels ever. These programs ensure tougher penalties for abusers, coordinated assistance with community organizations, and court advocates for abused women to boost reporting and prosecution. In the fiscal year 2015 CJS spending bill I provided a robust $430 million for Violence Against Women grants, continuing a strong commitment to VAWA programs. I also provide strong investments in core VAWA programs including: $195 million for STOP formula grants, which coordinates community response to domestic violence and also trains police, prosecutors and judicial staff; $30 million for sexual assault services that direct services for victims of rape; $26 million for transitional housing grants so victims have safe and affordable housing after shelters; and $50 million for Grants to Encourage Arrests, which teaches police and prosecutors how to support victims and ensure offender accountability. So today, as we mark 20 years of VAWA, we reflect on what it has done for families across our country and women in desperate need. But we also reflect with the renewed knowledge that the programs that have been in place are reducing domestic violence and improving outcomes. If it is anything that the last 20 years have shown us, it is that VAWA works. I am proud of it and am so happy to mark this important milestone.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I know the Senate is now considering whether we should vote on the motion to proceed to the emergency supplemental bill. That means under our rules of another century we actually don't get to the bill. We have a debate or even have a filibuster on whether we should even move to the bill. It was designed to cool the passions of the time so the Senate could be the greatest deliberative body in the world. However, these procedures now have been distorted. We are no longer the greatest deliberative body in the world; we are the greatest delaying body in the world. Delay has become not only a tactic to come up with better ideas, delay has become an outcome unto itself. We are facing a serious problem in our country, and I hope we would vote on the motion to proceed so we could actually get on the legislation for the urgent supplemental funding to deal with three crises facing our country, one of which is wildfires burning in the West, in which property, communities, and livelihoods are being destroyed and first responders are being exhausted. While they are being exhausted, local and State funds are being exhausted, along with the Forest Service of our own government. We need to stand with our neighbors in these Western States because this is a calamity. The Presiding Officer was the mayor of a great city in New Jersey--Newark. He knows what happens when a hurricane hits the city and hits a State. He could tell me and I know he has spoken frequently about how New Jersey is still trying to recover from Sandy. Well, the fires raging in the Western States are their hurricane. It is their tornado. It is their Sandy. I hope we would pass the $615 million to help our own fellow citizens in the 8 Western States. Then we have a treasured ally that is under attack by a terrorist organization and needs to defend itself using technology called the Iron Dome. They defend themselves by shooting interceptor rockets. It is not an offensive rocket, shoot to kill, it is shoot to defend. They are using up these rockets at an unprecedented rate, and the Secretary of Defense sent a letter to the Congress asking for $225 million to be able to replenish their arsenal. We also have a crisis in Central America and the violence by the narcotraffickers--or the narcoterrorists--that is causing a surge of children to come into our country. I hope we will pass the legislation which will allow us to get the money that is needed to address that situation, and I will elaborate on that in a moment. After all is said and done, I hope this will not be another day where more gets said than gets done. We need to respond to the needs that are presented to us. I wish to talk about the children at this time. Much has been said on the floor about the current situation, and much has been said about President Obama's failed immigration policy; we need to give the National Guard police powers. I am proud many Senators went down to the border. I myself went to the border. I went to see the situation, as chair of the Appropriations Committee. No. 1, I wanted to see if there was an urgent need; No. 2, what would it take to meet that need; and No. 3, how we can work together on a bipartisan basis to protect the children and protect our own country. Well, I got an eyeful, and I have to tell you about it. I traveled with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of HHS, Secretary Burwell, down to the border. We went to the McAllen Border Patrol station. We also went to Lackland Air Force Base, where children are temporarily housed. I had the opportunity to meet with great Border Patrol agents, a wonderful faith-based organization that is caring for the children, and fantastic young lawyers from the University of Texas at Austin campus and St. Mary's Law School. The law students and professors are there to make sure the kids have legal services on a pro bono basis. They are doing it on their own time. We saw a lot. I also had a chance to talk to the children. First, I will talk about the number of children. There was talk on the floor that made it sound as if we were under siege rather than facing a surge. I think there is a big difference between feeling as if we are under siege and facing a surge. As of this minute, we are talking about 60,000 children. That is a lot of children, but if you went to Baltimore to the Ravens stadium, the Ravens stadium holds 60,000 people. We are not talking 600,000 or 6 million children; we are talking about 60,000 children. Maybe it will swell to 90,000 children. All 90,000 children could still fit in the new Dallas stadium. We are talking about a number so small that it could fit into an American stadium. We are a country with 300 million people. We can certainly deal with 60,000 children who are fleeing traffickers, drugs, and sexual slavery. Are we not big enough, tough enough, and strong enough to be able to deal with that? I think we are. If you could see what has been going on, you would know what I mean. Let's talk about these 60,000 children. It is literally a children's March across Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, through Mexico, and coming up the Rio Grande. They are not coming across all 1,900 miles of the border. They are going to a specific area, and they are crossing the river on rafts, swimming, and doing whatever they can to get to the border. It starts like this: The children either come on their own or they come because a smuggler or coyote brings them here. That means some mother, father, or aunt in the United States of America, making minimum wage, is scraping together the $3,000 to $5,000 the smuggler is charging to deliver--kind of like a FedEx or UPS for human beings-- these children to the Rio Grande border. The violence is so bad that they are willing to trust a crook to bring the children to this country. These children trek through a jungle, through filth and dirt and danger. They stop at what they call safe houses. That is an oxymoron; there is nothing safe about a safe house. There are children with all kinds of different people on that road. These people take advantage of the children. I won't describe it. From this safe house, they finally make it to the border by a train called The Beast. The Beast is a cargo train. This is not a lovely train that goes up and down our coast from Boston to Savannah. This is a train called The Beast. The children ride on the top of these trains, holding and clutching to each other. I talked to a 9-year-old girl who said that she rode for 2 days and had to stay awake for 48 hours because she was worried about falling off and losing an arm or leg or death itself. Why would children risk this? Why would parents risk this? It is because of the danger, danger, danger in Central America. We are talking about arming the border more. We need to go after these criminals and arm our law enforcement officers so they can fight the narcotraffickers in Central America. We need to deal with our insatiable appetite for drugs that fuels and is driving this movement. When they send the children back, what are they going to send them back to? We are sending them back to countries that are recruiting boys to engage in criminal activity, and girls are recruited into human trafficking. It is not as though we are going to send them back on a plane and Juan Diaz will be there with yellow roses saying: Welcome back, children of Honduras and El Salvador. They will go back to the very danger from which they ran. When I went to the McAllen Border Patrol station, which is really a detention facility--it was designed to detain adults--underline that word. It was designed to hold up to 300 people, usually illegal immigrants trying to cross the Rio Grande. These really look like cells. They are cement cinder block facilities that were designed to hold 10 or 12 adults, and they hold as many as 20 or 30 children who are sleeping on the floor. The Border Patrol is doing the best they can. The Border Patrol is taking care of children because we can't move them to humanitarian facilities as the law requires. The children are taking turns sitting on a cement block to even be able to rest. There are 20 or 30 in a room sleeping on the floor and using empty water bottles for pillows. They have blankets that look like aluminum foil. These are the lucky ones. They are able to come in from the overfilled outdoor area, where the boys are often put in a covered area where they sleep outside. The girls can be ``inside,'' but they are in these holding cells. They have very limited showers and very limited hygiene. The Border Patrol is doing everything they can. It is not something we are used to seeing in the United States. I know there is another codel going to the border. Go, go, go, go. Go and see this. I talked to a 12-year-old girl. She was in charge of bringing her 6- year-old sister to the border. Their parents sent them here to escape the gang violence. The mother told the older girl to watch out for her younger sister. They said to her: Don't let her out of your sight until you get to America, and then try to get to your aunt. I talked to a 15-year-old girl from Honduras. Both of her parents had been killed by gang violence. She worked in a restaurant to save enough money to pay the coyote. It took her 2 months to get to the United States. She escaped violence along the route to get here. Are you going to send her back? Are you going to send the 6-year-old back? Wow. I then had the opportunity to see what the conditions were like for these children. If you talk to the border law enforcement agents, they want to be law enforcement guys. Gee, are they terrific. They know the surge at the border has been caused by the criminal activity here. They talked openly about it. There are seven organized crime syndicates that are sparking a lot of this. They know about the false recruitment of young people who are promised a new way and new day to get to the United States of America. They know about that, and they want to be able to do what they were hired to do--law enforcement. But in order for them to be able to do what they need to do, we have to have the facilities for the children to be housed, clothed, and fed while their legal status is being determined under the law. I went up to Lackland Air Force Base. The children are being cared for in unused dormitories that once housed our Air Force. We have new facilities for our enlisted personnel. Did you know we pay for that? The Department of Health and Human Services has to pay the Department of Defense to house those children. It is on a military base with all the rules and regulations associated with that. It is the most expensive housing we have, but it is the best housing we have right now because of this rejectionist fear that is being promulgated through our country that somehow or other these children pose a danger to us. It is the best we can do. I will say that it is a very nice facility. It is operated by a faith-based organization, the Baptist Conference. My hat is off to them. I speak now as a professionally trained social worker. It is one of the most outstanding child welfare service organizations I have seen, from the nurses to the social workers. They are doing a fabulous job, but they are under a contract. Although they are a voluntary, faith-based organization, they are being compensated for their time and services because that is what we should do. We want to be able to use such groups all over America. What was so heartwarming to me was that Catholic Charities, based in Oklahoma, came to Texas to see what the Baptists were doing because they were getting ready to take care of the kids. That is the American way--Catholic Charities learning from the Baptists. They were all concentrating on the welfare of the children. They know these are all children in God's eyes and should be treated with dignity. I then talked to the legal services people--the lawyers, law professors, law students from the University of Texas at Austin and St. Mary's College. The services they were providing were on their own time and their own dime. They are using their money and their summer vacation to help these children. There was no compensation, even for expenses, so they could begin the interview process to determine if any of these children had the opportunity to voluntarily return home. It is clear the coyotes misled them. Well, we can't keep doing this on this emergency patchwork basis. We need the urgent supplemental, No. 1, to help Homeland Security's law enforcement and help Health and Human Services. They need to crack this backlog, and they need to be able to place these children in a proper facility. They need to determine if they have a right to refugee status. Even when you have volunteer legal services such as the outstanding work I saw in Texas--outstanding. I know the Presiding Officer is a lawyer and would have been proud of these volunteers and the way they were responding to these children. They also offered bilingual services. They need more help, for example, from paralegals. They need help to pay for the backlog of cases. We need to make sure we have enough immigration judges. There is so much myth, so much misinformation, and so much distortion out there that I am afraid we will end this day and still not have had a vote to proceed to the urgent supplemental. Debate it, discuss it, and then let's vote on it or else it will languish. As a social worker, I want to say that what I have seen these children go through is unimaginable. They have come here to escape violence and death. They deserve to be treated with compassion and integrity, and they deserve for us to do our job. Anyone who thinks we should just deport these children without giving them every right afforded them under our law should go down to McClellan and look into their eyes and listen to their stories. The time to act is now. Let's put together a comprehensive program, and I believe we can meet this surge, deal with the root cause, and be able to function in a way in which we are all proud. I yield the floor.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, we are now in the closing hours of this session of the Congress. We are getting ready to take our break. I am rising to exhort our Members to vote for the urgent supplemental. I appreciate the fact that we have adopted the motion to proceed. I remind our colleagues what is in the urgent supplemental. First, it is to fight wildfires in our own country: $615 million to fight 27 large fires that are sending homes and communities up in smoke in eight Western States. Second, it fortifies Israel's antimissile defense system, Iron Dome, by providing $225 million to enable Israel to purchase interceptor rockets that they have utilized in their own self-defense. It is lifesaving technology. It is defensive technology. Third, and not at all least, it is to deal with issues on the border, providing $2.7 billion to deal with the surge of children coming through Central America, through a treacherous route through Mexico, presenting themselves to our border, asking that we consider their petition for refugee or asylum status. This bill is a reduction by $1 billion of what the President asked for. The President originally asked for $3.7 billion for the surge of the children all by itself and then additional funds for Iron Dome and the wildfires. When we looked at the request for the surge at the border, we felt we could reduce that by $1 billion, and to ensure the taxpayers that we are doing rigorous and vigorous oversight, we have money in there for the inspector general. This is an emergency spending bill, which means no offsets are required. Also, it is meant to deal with humanitarian crises, both in our own country with firefighting and then a crisis a treasured ally is dealing with and then a crisis in Central America, where the violence is so severe that children are on the march to be able to escape it. These funds will pay for additional law enforcement for our Border Patrol, humanitarian assistance for HHS to house, clothe, and feed the children on a temporary basis while we find a relative and their legal status is determined; that is, do they qualify for asylum or refugee status. Much has been said about the backlog and even a mockery--some States mocked the current system because they said there were so many awaiting these types of hearings. Maybe if we passed regular appropriations, which we haven't done in 3 years, we wouldn't be in this crisis. But this supplemental includes money for additional immigration judges to be able to expedite the determination of these children's legal status. Also, it goes after the drug smugglers, the human smugglers, the drug traffickers, the human traffickers, and the coyotes who are exploiting, creating the misery and violence in Central America, and also, while they are doing that, exploiting these children who are on the move and on the march. I understand there is a great deal of reluctance to either vote for the money or to weaken our asylum laws. I would caution us in weakening our asylum refugee laws, particularly as it affects children. I hope we can pass this bill and begin to move forward with it. I want everyone to be aware we are talking about a surge of children--approximately 60,000 children, not 600,000 children--just barely enough to fill Ravens stadium. We are a country of 300 million; we are talking only about this. I hope we can move on this bill, meet our responsibilities to our neighbors in the West facing wildfires and an ally who is running out of interceptor rockets to protect itself and not only deal with the children and their request to determine asylum status, but at the same time we put the money in the Federal checkbook to go where the crime and the criminals are, which is the narcotraffickers in Central America. I will have more to say before we wrap up, but I now yield the floor.

Ms. MIKULSKI. I object.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President----

Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, if I could respond to the Senator from Texas, first of all, I do not want my objection to be interpreted by him or by the Senate or those watching as a pugnacious dismissal of the Senator's request. The distinguished Senator from Texas has always stood for Texas and he has also stood for the protection of the border. He comes with an incredible background where he was a judge, a former judge of the highest court in Texas. So I understand. And I have also heard him speak repeatedly about the plight of these children, and he has spoken with great compassion. He and I both agree that we should not have open borders and open wallets, that we have to deal with this. But I say to my colleague, this bill is a money bill. It is an appropriations bill. We do not legislate on appropriations. There is no legislative language in this bill. What the Senator is proposing, working with the administration, with the Judiciary Committee, on a bipartisan basis--because I think there is a sentiment perhaps we could arrive at some other language, but on this bill I objected because this would be legislating on appropriations. The type of pragmatic approach the Senator from Texas is proposing--and we have perhaps some ideas-- cannot be done on this bill tonight with the urgent nature of it. So I want the Senator from Texas to know my great respect for him and his advocacy on this issue, and I know of his heartfelt compassion for the children and his desire to have a broader immigration policy. I look forward to working with him on legislative matters in a different forum.

Ms. MIKULSKI. The Senator will yield for a question.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Is that the Senator's question?

Ms. MIKULSKI. First I would like to respond----

Ms. MIKULSKI. Thank you very much. We are eager to engage in conversation with each other. It is the belief of the members of the Judiciary Committee--at least the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee--that the President has enough current authority to provide what Secretary Johnson is asking. I too have heard what Secretary Johnson has. So there is a dispute about whether he needs more authority or whether the President can exercise the authority he has. We believe he already has enough authority. Then there are two large issues. The two large issues are: immigration reform, commonsense, sensible, along the lines that passed the Senate--Senator McCain of Arizona and others have worked on this, Senator Durbin--and then the other is what is going on in Central America with these drug traffickers. Quite frankly, the fact is we need to start to pay attention to our own hemisphere. I note that when everybody talks about how much money this is, it is less money than we are going to spend to give to the Afghan security force. OK. We give $4 billion to the Afghan security force. Let's hope they are going to use it and shoot in the right direction. I am looking at making sure our country goes in the right direction, and I am going to work on a bipartisan basis. I say pass this bill. Let's put together a bipartisan task force and see if we can deal with these two problems of both immigration reform--to move it through both bodies--and also bring our focus back to our own hemisphere and deal with the issues in Central America. I yield the floor.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, a parliamentary question: Did the Senator from Alabama raise a budget point of order? Did the Senator from Alabama raise a budget point of order?

Ms. MIKULSKI. I say to the Senator from Alabama, do you want to raise it now or do you want to raise it later?

Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I note that the Senator from Maryland wishes to respond. How much time do the Democrats have in this debate?

Ms. MIKULSKI. I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Illinois have 4 minutes to offer a rebuttal and I have 5 minutes for the wrapup debate before we move to vote.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, as we begin to close out this part of the debate, I would just say that the issues I am advocating are deeply personal to me and, I believe, deeply personal to all Senators. When I talk about the fact that we have to fund help for wildfires in several States and help them be able to help themselves by replenishing the money for the Forest Service, I am reminded of the fact that a great writer by the name of de Tocqueville came to the United States to hear: What is this thing called democracy? He wrote that famous book, ``Democracy in America.'' In it he called for something that he observed. He said what sets America apart is its habits of the heart, that it helps neighbor helping neighbor. Now, we used to do that through barn raising and pancake suppers. But, my gosh, these issues have gotten too big, too horrific. We now have thousands of acres burning, homes being destroyed, businesses being destroyed. We need to be able to help our neighbors in the West. And I say to my colleagues from the West: I appreciate all the support you have given us on the East Coast who faced hurricanes. We didn't say we practice ZIP Code politics, that we only help one part of the country when they are facing a disaster. Habits of the heart, de Tocqueville said that is what defines us. We now need to help that. This issue now in terms of the Israelis and Iron Dome began for me right after I was elected to the Congress. When I traveled to Poland I went to Auschwitz and saw forever and a day--6 million Jews exterminated--why they needed a homeland, forever--a homeland safe and secure. Now they are asking for help to replenish their interceptor rockets on the eve of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, where people fought with sticks and stones and children crawled through sewers to defend themselves. We are not going to fool around here. We are not going to delay until we come back from the 5-week break. Israel is the homeland for the Jews. We need to help them defend themselves. My journey in Central America began as a brand new Member of Congress, with four Maryknoll nuns and a woman named Jean Donovan, who were raped and killed by the death squads in El Salvador. I watched a gallant, brilliant, charismatic bishop named Oscar Romero killed, gunned down in his own cathedral. Then we finally got around to looking at Central America and what was going on. We were worried more about communism than the rise of violence. For 30 years we have been up and down in Central America. We have inherited the winds. Our way of ignoring these three countries is by turning a blind eye, by always looking elsewhere in the world. If we have $4 billion to arm the Afghan security forces, I think we ought to back our Border Patrol, back our FBI, back our law enforcement to go after organized crime in Central America, because if we don't, it will be an additional threat and it will not only be the children--and now we have 60,000 children crossing the border. I understand Texas and Arizona, the border States, are facing these problems. We do want to work together. But could we in the final minutes of this Congress get ourselves together enough to meet the urgent supplemental request to do this? This is what America is. This is who we are, helping our neighbors in the West, helping the country fighting for its survival, and also helping our own country dealing with the crisis in Central America facing our border. I think it is time we pass this legislation, move forward, and come back and deal with the crisis there and also at the same time take a good look at immigration reform and do it in the way I think we can do it. How much time do I have?

Ms. MIKULSKI. With that I urge the adoption of this bill and hope we could move forward as a united bipartisan Congress. I yield the floor. I yield what time I would have.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, pursuant to section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, I move to waive all applicable sections of that act for purposes of the pending bill, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, first of all, the Senate is not in order.

Ms. MIKULSKI. I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 3 minutes in support of my motion to waive.

Ms. MIKULSKI. The bill that is before the Senate contains $3.57 billion of emergency spending, a reduction of $1 billion, to help fund and care for the children who seek refuge and to fight the criminal traffickers at the border. We fund fighting wildfires for our States and we also help Israel replenish its interceptor rockets. What happens if the motion to waive fails? If the Senate fails to waive the point of order, the bill will go back to the Appropriations Committee, but the urgent need will remain. If the Senate fails to waive the point of order, agencies will take from other programs to fund this compelling need. What does that mean? It means that HHS, which has already cut $138 million from the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, and others--we could have an ebola crisis in the world, and maybe even come to our border, and we are fooling around cutting HHS and CDC and other agencies. Please, let's look at what we are doing. Homeland Security is also spending resources that would otherwise be used to secure the border, such as FEMA disaster relief money has to be there if we have a hurricane. Simply put, failing to act is irresponsible. Let's waive the Budget Act, let's get on with the bill, and let's do our job. I yield back my time.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I wish to recognize the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. I am proud to stand here today to remember the heroism of the men and women who took part in the Warsaw Uprising. On August 1, 1944, the Polish Home Army was ordered to mobilize against the German forces. The Red Army had retreated to the outskirts of Warsaw and the Polish people believed the German forces would choose to withdraw. They choose this moment to stand up and try to liberate Warsaw before the Soviet forces could take control of the city. The Polish Home Army consisted of 40,000 brave soldiers, including 4,000 women. They lacked weapons and supplies but proved to be a challenging force against the German Army. In response, Heinrich Himmler ordered all of the people of Warsaw killed and the city razed to the ground to stand as an example to the people of Europe. The Polish Resistance fought bravely to liberate and protect their capital and their nation. But the Nazis were determined to crush the resistance. After 63 days of fighting, the German Army overcame the courageous Polish resistance. As a result, 85 percent of the city of Warsaw had been destroyed by the end of World War II. The actions of the Polish people during the Warsaw Uprising serve as an inspiration to all people fighting for their right to freedom and dignity. To this day, their legacy stands as a testament to the Polish character. It is for these reasons that I am honored to mark the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, which serves as a symbol of heroism and the strength of the human spirit.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I rise to speak on the pending business before the Senate. The Senate just achieved cloture on the motion to proceed to the emergency supplemental funding bill. Let me explain to the people who are watching this either in the gallery or on C-SPAN. The Senate has creaky rules, and these creaky rules are to make sure we can cool the passions that may be raging in the Nation at any given time so we can duly give consideration, that debate can be diligent and we won't be gripped by the fire of the moment or the passion of the motion. I appreciate that. However, now these rules require us to take a lot of time to get to the meat of the matter. We are now debating a motion to proceed to legislation related to supplementing existing funding to meet new emerging crises. The Senate votes on a motion to proceed not to the bill itself but on whether we should even go to the bill. So what we are debating now is whether we should proceed to the emergency supplemental funding bill. I want to say yes. Yes, vote on the motion to proceed. Let's get on with it. Let's have a real debate on real issues. Thirty hours has been set aside to debate whether we should proceed. I am here to say let's proceed, let's yield back our time, and let's get on the bill. We have a lot of things we need to get done in the next 48 hours. I want to see this emergency supplemental funding bill debated and voted on. We have three elements in this bill that meet compelling needs--need for our neighbors in our country; need for our treasured ally, the State of Israel; as well as need for a crisis at the border where children literally are marching across Central America in search of refugee status. We need to deal with all three of these issues. This emergency funding bill is about neighbor helping neighbor. First of all, it is about our own country. Wildfires are raging in the West. Over the last year 39 States have faced wildfires. Right this very minute eight Western States are coping with unbelievable wildfires, some of the largest fires in their history. What happens? Vast amounts of territory are going up in smoke. We are losing towns, businesses, homes. Our firefighters are worn out, as well as our first responders, and they need help. This legislation will provide $615 million to the States facing this horrific Armageddon-like emergency. In addition, this legislation includes $225 million to replenish the rockets that are being used by Israel, deploying technology called the Iron Dome. The Iron Dome is a missile defense system that is destroying the rockets being sent into Israel by Hamas. The technology is working, but they are using up the rockets and they need to be replenished. Then there is the humanitarian crisis at our border. We have $2.7 billion to meet the needs of children seeking refuge, in order to be able to deal with placing them while we determine their legal status but also being able to fight the crime of the narcotraffickers and the human traffickers who are creating this surge of children. This is a total emergency funding level of $3.57 billion. Why do we call it an emergency? Well, because under the law we can't just say this is an emergency. In order to get emergency funding, we have to meet the criteria of the Budget Control Act of 2011. The need has to be urgent. It has to be temporary. It has to be unforeseen. It is either to prevent the loss of life or in the interests of our national security. All three of these areas of funding meet this need. Under emergency funding, there are no offsets. That means we don't take from another important program being funded by the U.S. Government to meet that need. So in order to meet the needs of Iron Dome, we don't take from other national defense money. It will replenish that. When we help with wildfires, we don't take from other important areas, such as agriculture or interior or from other bills. This will help to not only meet the need but also not place an additional burden on other communities. Now I wish to speak about the urgency. This firefighting help is really needed now. We listened to the Senators from Western States. We see the photographs literally showing parts of our country going up in smoke. The Forest Service--the agency that actually is in charge of dealing with this--will run out of money in August. As I said, last year these wildfires burned in 39 States. Then we look at Iron Dome. Hamas--this violent terrorist organization that actually rejects Israel's right to even exist--from its tunnels is showering Israel with rockets. Iron Dome, Arrow Head, and David's Sling are missile defense systems designed to help them. The up-close missile defense system is Iron Dome. This bill will make sure we replace the interceptor rockets that are being used to protect them against this showering of rockets. The Israeli Embassy spoke to my staff yesterday. There have been over 2,000 Hamas rockets fired in the last week. Israel needs to replenish these rockets. Then there is the issue of the surge of unaccompanied children presenting themselves at our border, asking for refugee status. In order to really be able to meet this crisis--and they are coming in by the thousands; 59,000 kids have come this year. We know the immigration and customs service, if we don't meet this emergency funding, will run out of money in August. Border Patrol will run out of money in early September. That doesn't mean the Border Patrol agents or the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will stop working; it means the Department of Homeland Security--22 agencies--will take money out of existing funds to fund this. So it means they could take money out of Federal emergency management just as we are going into hurricane season, just as we are in high tornado season. We could be taking money out of FEMA to put it in Border Patrol unless we do this emergency funding. We have to do it. Health and Human Services runs out of money in August. They are the ones in charge when the children present themselves while their legal status is being determined. The children must be taken care of in a humane way, the American way. We don't treat children in an abusive manner. It means we will feed them, we will clothe them, we will shelter them, we will meet any emergency health needs they have, and we need to do that while we determine their legal status. My bill--the supplemental I am presenting--helps accelerate the determination of their legal status. My legislation and this supplemental spending actually provide more immigration judges and legal representation for the children. That is so we can quickly determine if they have a right to asylum while we are also taking care of them. We need to be able to do that. I hope others will get the briefings that I had and visit the border the way I did to find this out. The reason we have a crisis at the border is because we have a crisis in Central America. This legislation provides the money to do this. People say root causes such as poverty have been going on for years. This doesn't only deal with poverty. We want to work with the governments of Central America to really go after the narcotraffickers, the human traffickers, and the coyotes engaged in smuggling. Why do we want to do that? If we ask these children where are the home towns they are from, they will give us the names of little cities and little towns, and when we look at their poverty rate, we find the poverty rate in these communities has been consistent for a number of years. That is a sad circumstance. But when we look at the crime rate, the murder rate, the recruitment into violent gangs, the recruitment into human trafficking, with the threat of death or torture--that is where these kids are coming from. We have to go after the criminals in Central America and not treat these children as though they are criminals. We cannot treat children in this country as though they are the criminals. We need to go after the real criminals in Central America using our assets and working with the assets in Central America. They have programs and they have plans. Honduras is a great example of what they are trying to do. They need our help. If we don't want the crisis at our border, we need to deal with the crisis in Central America. That also deals with our insatiable, unending, vociferous appetite for drugs. The drugs have created the narcoterrorists. Once people start selling drugs, they are willing to sell women and children like commodities, and if they are willing to sell women and children like commodities, then that is where the vial, repugnant practice of human trafficking and human smuggling and even a new form of slavery--sexual slavery--begins. These children are on the march. And when we talk to these children, we learn they are terrific children. They are brave and gutsy. When we talk to the boys, we learn they don't want to be part of the gangs. They want to get out. They want to get out, so they start this long march from their home country to Mexico to make it on the Rio Grande on rafts and by swimming and so on so they can make it to our border. When we talk to the girls, we learn the girls want to go to school and get an education. They don't want to be recruited into these vial circumstances. These are earnest, hard-working children who want to have safety, who want to have a future, and we want to be able to see, by interviewing them, if they qualify for refugee status. If they don't, they will have to go back home, but if they do, they get to stay here. So they deserve the protection under law. We need to pass this legislation. This bill is a funding bill. It does not include immigration legislation. We say those kinds of things can either be brought up in another way or another method, but this is a clean funding bill. When I say ``clean,'' it means it has no legislative language on it related to immigration. So I hope we can pass this legislation. Now, I have listened to my own constituents, and many of them are saying to me: Hey, Barb, we are not against these kids. In fact, recent polling says 69 percent of the American people say if they are refugees, we should take care of them and they have a right to determine their legal status. But many of my constituents say: Hey, Barb, what about us? What does this mean? You are going to spend more money? What about my schools? When do we get help? My kids need help. They need schools; they need health care. You talk to families now. They are getting ready to go back to school. Many parents cannot wait for sales-tax-free day in Maryland, where you can get your backpack and your school supplies and your little clothes and shoes. My God, the cost of kids' shoes now is a small fortune, and they will outgrow them by the time they get to Thanksgiving. Parents are looking for bargains, for deals, to be able to do this. They are not hostile, but they wonder about them. I want to say to them, I hear you. I was touched by a very poignant story over the weekend about how we have a food bank at Steelworkers Hall in Baltimore. Bethlehem Steel closed. It will never, ever, ever come back. The steelworkers of America, who contributed to the United Way, were always the first in line if a blood bank was necessary. Now many of those who lost their job are using the very food bank that they once donated to. That story was so moving because we have lost our manufacturing. We have just lost a bill earlier today on bringing jobs back home-- something I know the Presiding Officer is for, I sure am for, and so on. So I know American families are hurting. Yes, they are. But I want to bring out that the cost of this bill is the same amount of money as we are going to spend on training the Afghan National Security Forces. Did you know that? So we are going to spend $4 billion--that is ``billion'' as in ``Barb,'' not ``million'' as in ``Mikulski''--$4 billion to train the Afghan National Security Forces. I am not going to debate the merits of that. But we can spend money all over like that and we cannot spend money at our border and also for threats to our border because of narco terrorism that breeds other vile, repugnant, heinous behavior? I think we have to get real here. The reason I want a supplemental--that is urgent and meets that criteria--is that we do not have to take the money from other important programs that do help America's families in education, in health, in job retraining in order to bring our jobs back home. So I really do hope we pass this bill. Not spending money will not save money. It means we will just take out of existing programs and the American people will pay for it doubly. They will pay for it through inaction, which will ultimately cost more. They will pay for it because they will lose programs they thought they were going to have access to or there will be limited availability. We have a chance here now to help our neighbors in our Western States. I know Wisconsin has been hit by it terribly, and we are so sorry for the loss of property and the danger to that community. It will help a treasured ally, Israel, which we must. Also, we will help our own country. The way to protect our border is two ways: fight it in Central America and also show what we stand for. If children are applying for refugee status, they should have their day in court and under the law proceed. So, Madam President, we are now on this motion to proceed. Let's get on with it. Let's yield back our time. Let's get to the bill. Let's get the job done. I hope at the end of the day the vote will be ``yes.'' I yield the floor.