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Kilili: We need to keep DHS open
Along with all 192 members of the Democratic Caucus, Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan is sponsoring legislation that would continue funding for the Department of Homeland Security for the rest of fiscal year 2015. Unless a funding bill passes Congress and is signed by the President by Feb. 27 the department faces a shutdown.
“Homeland Security agencies play a critical role in the Northern Mariana Islands economy,” Sablan explained. “USCIS is responsible for allowing tourists to enter from China. CBP mans the border. TSA assures the security of flights. The Coast Guard is protecting our waters from illegal fishing and ensuring marine safety.
“And all of those agencies employ people who live here in the Northern Marianas and deserve to be paid for their hard work,” Sablan stated.
“That is why I have signed on to H.R. 861. The bill simply funds the Department of Homeland Security for the rest of the fiscal year, protecting our economy and all those jobs.”
H.R. 861 does not contain any of the policy riders that have caused a legislative stalemate between the House and the Senate over the last several weeks and that threaten to shut down the department.
House Republicans passed a funding bill in January that would override President Obama’s decision to hold off on deporting people who were brought into the country illegally when they were children or who are the parents of U.S. citizens. But the bill is blocked in the Senate.
“The way to solve these policy disagreements is for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration legislation that protects the borders, addresses the status of 11 million people who are in the U.S. illegally, and provides the workers that agriculture and the high tech industry need,” Sablan said, “not by refusing to fund the agency that is supposed to keep us all safe.”
In addition, to assuring that Homeland Security and its employees can continue their work in the Northern Marianas, H.R. 861, the bill Sablan is cosponsoring, provides the Commonwealth government with funding through the Port Security Grant Program, the Emergency Management Performance Grant, the State Homeland Security Program, and various competitive grants. (Office of the Delegate)
