Floor Speech2026-03-22

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2026--Motion to Proceed--Continued

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Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 53 (Sunday, March 22, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 53 (Sunday, March 22, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S1504-S1506] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2026--Motion to Proceed--Continued Recognition of the Minority Leader The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Democratic leader is recognized. Department of Homeland Security Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, the Senate is in session once again this weekend, and once again Republicans are doing nothing productive. Yesterday, instead of considering legislation to tackle inflation or end the war in Iran, MAGA Republicans wasted Senate floor time on a radical culture-war amendment that went nowhere. It failed, and it accomplished nothing--a total waste of time with nothing to show for it. And, yesterday, the Republicans once again blocked the Senate's ability to finally start paying our TSA workers. These workers have gone now for weeks without pay. They work around the clock. They keep our airports running. Republicans had the chance to pay them once again, and they refused. They refused. The bottom line is this was the first time we saw ``yes'' or ``no'' votes from Republicans on an amendment that simply said ``Pay them.'' Don't wait, as the Republicans are saying, until we resolve all the other issues in ICE. It simply said ``Pay them now,'' and they said no. And that shows you, when they are voting yes on amendments that won't actually pay them because it won't pass because it is tied to all the other complications in ICE--including the desire that American people have that we must have warrants when you bust into someone's home and that the police should not wear masks--they say they will only vote for TSA agents if we get rid of those things, if we don't make sure they have to wear masks. That is fake. That is not really helping TSA workers. Our amendment did. They all voted no. But we are going to keep at it. I say this to TSA workers. I say this to people at the airports who are waiting in line ungodly hours. We will keep doing this and doing this until the Republicans see the light and feel the pressure that they are holding up payment and relent. Now, today, Donald Trump and Homan are saying they will deploy ICE agents to airports starting on Monday. This is really disturbing. ICE agents--who are untrained and have caused problems everywhere they have gone--lurking at our airports? That is asking for trouble, and it will certainly make the chaos at the airports even worse. No one has any faith in ICE agents. They haven't received training. They don't know what it is to be a TSA person and do what you need to do there. The real problem here is they have no plan for using these ICE agents. Trump says send them there, they send them there, and Homan says they are still drawing up plans, with less than a day's notice. What is this? We know what it is. It is another impulsive action by Donald Trump. Some idea pops into his head, and he announces it, and then the people working for him, a few of whom do have some degree of talent and ability--not many--underlings--they have to rush to try to implement what they know is an idiotic plan. In this case, it is a plan that has no planning. It is another impulsive action from Donald Trump. When he acts impulsively, there is usually trouble. Whenever Donald Trump acts impulsively with no follow- through, there is trouble. ICE agents will be asked to do things they are not trained to do. They don't know how to perform core TSA screening functions. Travelers will be on edge with Federal agents looking over their shoulders. All they will do is worsen the situation at airports, which are already on edge. So I have an idea for Donald Trump: Instead of sending ICE agents to harass travelers at airports, why doesn't [[Page S1505]] Trump get his act together and agree to pay the TSA workers and get the Senate Republicans to do so? Iran Mr. President, now let's talk about the disastrous war in Iran, causing so much havoc, so much chaos, and raising everybody's gas prices and prices on so much else. Here is what Donald Trump said on Friday about the war. Donald Trump said: You know, I may have a plan or I may not. For a war? Whoa. Here people's lives are at stake, billions are being spent on an almost daily basis, and he says: You know, I may have a plan or I may not. These are the words of the Commander in Chief in the middle of a war involving one of the most dangerous regimes on Earth: I may have a plan or I may not. That is unhinged and dangerous. Lives are on the line, and the President says he may not even have a plan. Tens of billions are being wasted. No plan. Troops being killed and injured. No plan. Civilians being killed and injured. No plan. Gasoline costs $3.94 a gallon on average. And Trump: I have no plan--or I may not have a plan, which means none. What does Donald Trump do? He lifts sanctions on two of the states that are enemies to us in so many ways--Iran and Russia--so they can go after our own troops and allies. Lifting sanctions on Iran and Russia so they can go after our troops and our allies--it is the dictionary definition of ``asinine.'' Donald Trump's military strategy is like watching a snake eat its own tail. This war needs to come to an end. Secretary Rubio, Secretary Hegseth, and other Cabinet officials must come before the Senate and testify under oath in public to explain why we are in this mess and what the goal even is. Even some Republicans are openly admitting they have no clue what the administration is trying to accomplish in the Middle East. Enough is enough. The American people do not want a war with Iran that has no end. They do not want to see our troops deployed again and again to the Middle East. They don't want to just have a knot in their stomach every time they pull up to the gas pump and, soon enough, the grocery store as well because of the higher prices caused by this war. It must come to an end. I yield the floor. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Alaska. Nomination of Markwayne Mullin Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I want to speak on the vote we are getting ready to take here right now. The minority leader, Senator Schumer, was on the floor just a minute ago. I certainly hope we can continue to move forward in a good-faith manner to fund Homeland Security and get the reforms and compromise that have been demanded on both sides. I am hopeful we can get there. But one way we can show that momentum--and I believe there is momentum in these negotiations, because we all need to fund Homeland Security--is to have strong, bipartisan support for the Secretary of Homeland Security whom we are getting ready to confirm here in the U.S. Senate right now. That is my good friend and fellow U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin. And the Presiding Officer knows it. Every Senator knows it. He is smart. He is thoughtful. He has good friends on both sides of the aisle. As a matter of fact, I would say that Senator Mullin, of all the Senators here, probably works more across the aisle--not just Senators to Senators but Senate and House, Senate and White House. He is a really indispensable convener for this body to get things done. That is his reputation. Everybody knows it, and everybody thinks highly of him. I certainly think highly of him. But, to me, someone with that skill set and that reputation and that experience of working across the aisle here, of working with Members of the House--by the way, Democrats and Republicans--is exactly the kind of leader we need at Homeland Security at this moment--exactly the kind of leader we need at Homeland Security at this moment. So I am very hopeful that we are going to have a strong bipartisan vote for our colleague Senator Markwayne Mullin to move forward as the Secretary of Homeland Security. Of course, that would be good for the Senate, showing a bipartisan vote on someone who is clearly qualified-- and, yes, does have the temperament. I know that came up in the hearing. But, again, when I watched him work for years in this body, there is no one who works harder to actually try to get compromise to move things forward. That is his reputation here. And I know my Senate colleagues on the other side of the aisle agree with me on this. So strong bipartisan support is what I have been pitching so many of my Democratic colleagues on, for this highly qualified U.S. Senator. It would be good for the Senate. It would be good for the Department of Homeland Security. To be honest, given what has been going on with Homeland Security, it would be good for the country, and I hope we can get there. As I mentioned, I have been working with a lot of my colleagues-- Republicans but especially Democratic colleagues--to say: Come on. We need this at this moment. You guys should be a yes. You all know you should be a yes. By the way, in private--and I have a lot of good friends on the other side of the aisle--they say: Hey, Dan, I know I should be a yes on this, but--but--there are a lot of buts in terms of excuses. They are not great excuses. I won't go through all of them. Hey, I am from a really blue State. Tough on me. Hey, I might be running for Governor. Hey, I might be running for President. This is what they have said. But I don't think that should matter. We have all taken those kind of votes, tough votes, that we know are the right thing to do. And, again, as I mentioned, it is the right thing to do right now for Homeland Security, for the U.S. Senate, for the United States of America, a strong bipartisan support for this great American, by the way, who is highly, highly qualified. And you know, the excuses are now coming out, the ``buts.'' I mean, we have all taken tough votes. You know, I certainly have taken my few in terms of Cabinet officials. I supported a strong number of Biden Cabinet official

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