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Mr. YODER. I thank the gentleman from New York for yielding me this time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the rule that we are debating here today so that we can debate a bill on homeland security. Now, that might come as a surprise to many who are watching this debate, or to the Speaker or anyone else in this Chamber today, that we are actually debating a rule that deals with homeland security.
Now, the fantasy discussion going on on the left right now on any topic that comes to mind might be entertaining to some, but for the rest of this country, they would love to see this body actually debate issues that are on topic, and that issue is homeland security. Agencies like Border Patrol, ICE agents, Coast Guard personnel, the Secret Service, funding for all sorts of agencies, $1 billion for FEMA disaster relief fund, are these not issues important enough to discuss on the floor today?
The bill prohibits the use of funds to move detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, into the United States and denies them immigration benefits such as visas, admission into the United States, and classification as refugees, all sorts of things that are critical to homeland security, to protecting Americans from terrorism, keeping Americans safe.
And we are doing it under an open rule, and that is the issue on this rule debate. For the first time in 4 years, we are debating an appropriations bill that affects hundreds of millions of Americans related to homeland security, and we are allowing every side to bring amendments down to the floor and to discuss those issues.
This is a critical moment. No matter how many times the folks on the left want to come forward and obfuscate or change the subject, that's fine, we can have those debates. And we will continue to have those debates. But we are debating today a rule that will allow this body, in an open fashion for the first time in anyone's memory, to debate an open rule on homeland security. If you have an amendment that is germane to the bill, bring it. If it is found worthy, it will pass. This is the process that we used in committee, and it worked. We produced a good piece of legislation that will provide for the security of the homeland.
We have an opportunity today to seriously debate the topic that is before us on homeland security. No matter how many times the left attempts to change the subject from what we are talking about, we know that the homeland security of our country, protecting us from terrorism, is a critical issue and we will debate it, no matter how many times the left tries to stop us.
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