Ranking Member Underwood Floor Remarks on Republicans’ 2025 Homeland Security Funding Bill

Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (D-IL-14), Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks on the House Floor in opposition to the 2025 Homeland Security bill:

Madam Chair, I rise in opposition to the majority’s Homeland Security funding bill for 2025.

First, I want to start by acknowledging the hard work of those who are serving on the frontlines at the Department of Homeland Security. They are making sacrifices every day to protect this country, and I am committed to recognizing that.

Many of the policies I pushed to have included in the bill acknowledge both the challenges and obstacles these men and women face. For example, today’s bill includes key priorities that focus on: expanding employee wellness and suicide prevention programs, including funding additional wellness centers that build upon the successes of the El Paso pilot; providing resources to increase accountability at the Coast Guard as we work to protect cadets from sexual harassment and assault; and improving access to contraceptives for Coast Guard servicemembers and their family members.

However, despite these silver linings, the Fiscal Year 2025 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill put forward by Republicans falls short of addressing our country’s real and urgent needs.

The legislation not only increases funding for inhumane, costly, and ineffective responses to the humanitarian crisis at our border. It cuts $2.1 billion to Border Security Operations—including the complete elimination of the Shelter and Services Program and the critical resources our U.S. Border Patrol Agents need to secure the border.

Let me be clear: eliminating the Shelter and Services Program will not stop migration. It will only prevent communities from managing surges humanely and safely, ensuring chaos and desperation across our country.

The bill also guts funding for refugee and asylum programs and even includes a provision that would cut over $300 million in fee funding for the asylum program. The proposed cuts to the asylum program would only further overwhelm our broken immigration system and ensure that more people are released from DHS custody, without legal status. That outcome is not good for anyone.

The funding choices made by the majority in this bill will result in more people being released into the interior while they likely wait for years for their case to be decided.

And the disappointing truth is that this bill doubles down on outdated, ineffective border security strategies that ignore reality and will waste billions in taxpayer dollars.

These ineffective policies will leave our communities exposed to humanitarian crises without the resources necessary to respond. With this bill, House Republicans are turning their back on U.S. Border Patrol Agents and the critical funds they need to maintain safe and humane facilities.

But the failures of this bill continue. This bill also underfunds critical cyber defense programs, leaving Americans vulnerable and unprepared to deal with cyber threats at a time when our schools, hospitals, and critical infrastructure are under constant attack.

And in the face of threats of terrorism and violent extremism that have been highlighted by both the prior and the current Administrations, this bill: eliminates funding for the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3); eliminates funding for the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) grant program; cuts funding for the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office; and includes statutory restrictions that would prevent the Department from taking the important actions needed to reverse the alarming trends we see on violent extremism and terrorism.

If passed as written, this bill would leave our communities with nothing to address some of the most urgent threats we are facing across the United States.

This legislation reflects a missed opportunity to work in a bipartisan manner to prioritize the needs of our nation, respond to existing and emerging threats, and address the concerns Americans have expressed about our immigration system, national security, climate change, and more.

The challenges our country faces cannot be understated. We are living in unprecedented times, and the American people are looking for Congress to set aside partisan politics and do the right thing.

Unfortunately, this bill misses that mark and ignores our country’s most pressing needs. That is why I cannot support it in its current form.

And earlier this week, President Biden issued a statement confirming that he would veto this bill if presented with it.

We must do better and work collaboratively on a bill that would meet the real and urgent needs of our nation. In its current state, this bill does not do that.

I urge my majority colleagues to abandon this partisan theater and work with Democrats to produce a bipartisan bill that puts people over politics and funds the priorities that will keep our country safe, healthy, and prepared to face our challenges with resolve.

I urge a NO vote on this bill.

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