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

On 2026-02-12, Senator Christopher Murphy (D-CT) delivered a floor speech titled "DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2026--Motion To Proceed--Resumed" in the Senate. The speech addressed immigration and also covered the environment, foreign policy. It referenced legislation including HR7147, HR4553, S593, among other bills.

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

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 30 (Thursday, February 12, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 30 (Thursday, February 12, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S593-S606] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2026--Motion to Proceed--Resumed The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 7147, which the clerk will report. The senior assistant bill clerk read as follows: A bill (H.R. 7147) making further consolidated appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, and for other purposes. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will be 30 minutes for debate, equally divided between the two leaders or their designees, prior to the vote on the motion to invoke cloture. The Democratic leader. Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, Americans' views on ICE are crystal clear: The lawlessness, the violence, the chaos must end, and the only real way to do it is through legislation. Today, Senate Democrats will vote no because we will not support a bill that fails to make any progress on reining in ICE and stopping the violence. Americans are sick of their taxpayer dollars going to masked Federal agents, warrantless searches, and violence--violence--in their communities. Democrats have been clear. We need legislation to truly halt ICE's abuses. Otherwise, what Tom Homan says today could be reversed by Donald Trump, on a whim, tomorrow. Without legislation, Donald Trump could choose to put a rogue force in any city he wants and have them operate without guardrails at all. The proposals that Senate and House Democrats presented last week and keep pushing for are very reasonable. We want ICE simply to follow the same standards that law enforcement agencies across the country already follow. I ask every Republican Senator: Go home. Ask your police officer or ask your sheriff what rules they must abide by. They are very similar to the rules that we are asking ICE to obey, but right now, ICE is a rogue force. Lawlessness prevails when ICE arrives. If Republicans want to claim our proposals are nonstarters, they should ask the people back home what they think of masked agents, warrantless searches, and using kids as bait to arrest their parents. These are not actions of real law enforcement. This is thuggery. The American people need to see meaningful change, and our Republican colleagues must work with us to make that change happen. No more rogue police forces roaming through our cities. Support this legislation. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas. Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to yield back all time. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Cloture Motion The PRESIDING OFFICER. Pursuant to rule XXII, the Chair lays before the Senate the pending cloture motion, which the clerk will state. The legislative clerk read as follows: Cloture Motion We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 311, H.R. 7147, a bill making further consolidated appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, and for other purposes. John Thune, Chuck Grassley, Markwayne Mullin, John Barrasso, Tim Sheehy, Katie Boyd Britt, Ted Cruz, Jon Husted, James Lankford, Jim Banks, Mike Rounds, Pete Ricketts, Susan M. Collins, Shelley Moore Capito, Bill Cassidy, Kevin Cramer, Tommy Tuberville. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the mandatory quorum call under rule XXII has been waived. The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the motion to proceed to H.R. 7147, a bill making further consolidated appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, and for other purposes, shall be brought to a close? The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant bill clerk called the roll. Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell). The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 52, nays 47, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 38 Leg.] YEAS--52 Banks Barrasso Blackburn Boozman Britt Budd [[Page S594]] Capito Cassidy Collins Cornyn Cotton Cramer Crapo Cruz Curtis Daines Ernst Fetterman Fischer Graham Grassley Hagerty Hawley Hoeven Husted Hyde-Smith Johnson Justice Kennedy Lankford Lee Lummis Marshall McCormick Moody Moran Moreno Mullin Murkowski Paul Ricketts Risch Rounds Schmitt Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Sheehy Sullivan Tillis Tuberville Wicker Young NAYS--47 Alsobrooks Baldwin Bennet Blumenthal Blunt Rochester Booker Cantwell Coons Cortez Masto Duckworth Durbin Gallego Gillibrand Hassan Heinrich Hickenlooper Hirono Kaine Kelly Kim King Klobuchar Lujan Markey Merkley Murphy Murray Ossoff Padilla Peters Reed Rosen Sanders Schatz Schiff Schumer Shaheen Slotkin Smith Thune Van Hollen Warner Warnock Warren Welch Whitehouse Wyden NOT VOTING--1 McConnell The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Moreno). On this vote, the yeas are 52, and the nays are 47. Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn not having voted in the affirmative, the motion is not agreed to. The motion was rejected. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader. Motion to Reconsider Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I enter a motion to reconsider. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion is entered. Cloture Motion Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The cloture motion having been presented under rule XXII, the Chair directs the clerk to read the motion. The senior assistant bill clerk read as follows: Cloture Motion We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to Executive Calendar No. 311, H.R. 7147, a bill making further consolidated appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, and for other purposes. John Thune, John Barrasso, John R. Curtis, Bill Hagerty, Tim Sheehy, Thom Tillis, Tom Cotton, Joni Ernst, Jim Banks, Markwayne Mullin, Tommy Tuberville, Steve Daines, Josh Hawley, Tim Scott of South Carolina, Jon A. Husted, Pete Ricketts, Susan M. Collins. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama. Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 4553 Mrs. BRITT. Mr. President, I rise today to pass this legislation by unanimous consent and offer a 2-week continuing resolution so that we can assure the DHS is fully funded while we continue to negotiate. Two weeks ago, we agreed to extend funding while we talked and tried to find a pathway forward. However, the timeline we knew was going to be short. It took the Democrats until Saturday evening to actually produce legislative text. Within the next four days, we were able to exchange dialogue and text again. You can take a look at what we have seen from the President and his outreach, what you have seen from the Secretary of Homeland Security and the deployment of body cameras across the country, and what we have heard from Tom Homan today. We are working in good faith to find a pathway forward. What we are asking is, let us continue to do that. We are asking today for the exact same thing that we had 2 weeks ago: Extend this funding for 2 more weeks so that, as we talk, as we negotiate, TSA agents don't miss a paycheck; so that FEMA workers who are helping to get out disaster relief to people who have been ravaged across this country, and particularly in the South, just in the last 2 weeks--we lost over 60 individuals to the deadly winter storms. There are people who need help, and the people who are working to provide that help for them, they deserve a paycheck. When we are looking at CBP and ICE continuing to do their work, look at what is happening across the country. It is important that we stand shoulder to shoulder with our law enforcement officers, allowing them to make sure that they keep themselves safe and the communities at large. There are very important jobs that they have, like HSI agents that go after child pornographers and drug traffickers, that make sure that Americans are safe. HSI has done tremendous work and must continue to be funded. You look at the Secret Service. The list goes on and on and on. The Secret Service continues to protect not only America's leaders, but it makes sure that when we have events like the World Cup and the Olympics, Americans and those that are living here are safe and secure. It is clear that we are operating in good faith. We are working to find a pathway forward, and the fact that people, these employees-- people who have stepped up to serve their country--are not going to receive a paycheck, to me, is just totally, completely unacceptable. Look, we don't have to go down another government shutdown pathway, and that is exactly what this is. By not allowing us time to continue these conversations and shutting the government down, real people will pay the price. These same workers, these same agents who went without a paycheck for 43 days because of the failure of the Democrats to come to the table then--it is exactly what we are seeing now. It is a choice. It is entirely up to Senate Democrats. We stand here today to say: We are operating in good faith. We have continued to move the ball forward. Let's keep talking. Let's keep working. Let's do a 2- week extension. Don't let anyone miss a paycheck. Let's make sure that we keep Americans safe, coast to coast. I hope they will make the right choice, but that is entirely up to them. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 156, H.R. 4553. And I further ask that the Britt substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to, and that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and 

Referenced legislation: S3805, S3805, HR4553, HR7147