Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I thank Senator Mikulski. She has been joined by Senator Shaheen, both of whom have been leading this very important bill to pass this funding for Homeland Security. I thought the points Senator Mikulski made were so well taken about the fact that there has been a new development since we left this Chamber; that is, that the courts are taking on some of the immigration provisions our colleagues have been trying to attach to this bill.
I would hope they could look at this in a fresh way now and see that we should just simply allow this bill to go forward while the courts are considering this matter. To me, that is the answer. I do not think they should see it--our colleagues on the other side--as a concession. It is simply a fact. It is something that has changed. So I come to the floor to talk about the importance of the Mikulski-Shaheen bill. The critical importance of this funding has been driven home in the last few days
in my State, the State of Minnesota.
Just this weekend the terrorist group al-Shabaab released a video encouraging attacks on shopping malls throughout the world--a shopping mall in Minnesota, the Mall of America, a shopping mall in Canada, in Edmonton, a shopping mall in London. I do not think we could ever think they would be limited in their threats when it comes to shopping malls in America.
This is the same terrorist group that actually carried out a major attack on a shopping mall in Kenya, killing more than 60 people. It has also called for attacks, as I said, in other countries. In this video, an al-Shabaab spokesman bragged about his previous attacks and the chaos future attacks can cause. He talks about if just a handful of fighters could bring Kenya to a complete stop for weeks, he talks about what they could do to--in his words, obviously not mine--American- or Jewish-owned
shopping centers across the world.
That is what we saw this weekend. That is what the people in my State [Page: S1026]
awoke to. They awoke to that video and those words. I spoke yesterday with Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, with our U.S. attorney for Minnesota, Andy Luger.
We are working with the FBI, and they have boosted the security at the Mall of America. It already had good security. We have fine law enforcement in Minnesota on the Federal, State, and local levels.
The FBI has advised people, clearly, to go on with their lives in Minnesota. The Homeland Security Secretary has clearly said people shouldn't be discouraged from going to the mall in any way.
So the people in my State are standing tall when it comes to this threat, and our law enforcement is standing tall when it comes to this threat, but in Congress our message to these terrorists cannot be that we are going to shut down the Department of Homeland Security. That cannot be the message coming from the Senate of the United States of America.
Rather than acting to protect my State from the threat, there are people who are actively contemplating a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security--the Department we created after 9/11 to protect our homeland, to protect our country from these kinds of terrorist threats.
This would mean--if it was to go forward and we weren't to fund it this week--over 1,700 Department of Homeland Security employees in Minnesota would be forced to work without pay or be furloughed, including 472 Customs and Border Patrol personnel, 953 Transportation Security Administration officers, 156 Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel, and 74 Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel.
We need to act to fund Homeland Security. Think of the people in my State who were going to spend a normal day going to the mall, waking up to see that video. Think about the fact that I have to tell them there are people messing around with this bill over extraneous provisions that are now being battled out in court--and not on a bill that funds our Homeland Security.
Now we also know terrorist organizations such as al-Shabaab and ISIS are trying to recruit people in my State to take up arms and do harm to Americans.
Why do we know that? The first American who was killed fighting for ISIS in Syria was from Minnesota. His name was Douglas McAuthur McCain. We also know our law enforcement, because they have worked so well with our Somali community--we are so proud of that community. We have half the Somalis in the Nation in the State of Minnesota.
They were able to work with our law enforcement over the last few years. Twenty people were indicted. Twenty people were indicted for helping al-Shabaab or trying to go over to fight on the terrorists' side. We have already had nine convictions in Minnesota.
Those convictions would not have happened without this community. This Muslim community basically said: We don't want our kids to go over and be suicide bombers. We don't want our kids to go fight next to ISIS.
That community has worked with law enforcement in Minnesota and they will continue to work with law enforcement. We have already had four people from the Twin Cities area who have been charged for crimes relating to travel for the purpose of going to aid ISIS.
But it is not only our national security that the people in my State see as at stake here. I know Senator Shaheen, who is on the floor, is also from a border State and understands how important that work is as we go up to our northern neighbor of Canada. This is 5,500 miles--the longest border in the world. Over 400,000 people and nearly $2 billion in goods and services cross our borders every day.
That is economically significant for my State. Canada is my State's top international trading partner, with over $19 billion in total business across the board. Over 1 million Canadians visit Minnesota every year--by the way, many of them going to the Mall of America--contributing $265 million to the local economy.
But that relationship relies on a seamless U.S.-Canadian border, with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol keeping that border secure and efficiently screening all cross-border traffic. We have made important strides in recent years with trusted traveler programs to make our northern border more secure, while encouraging the cross-border tourism and commerce that is the lifeblood of my State. Withholding critical funding from the Department of Homeland Security could threaten that progress, leading
to a less secure border and hindering economic opportunity.
Without that critical funding, we risk security. Even a cursory look at world headlines shows the threats the United States and our allies face--from the terrorist attacks in Paris and Sydney to the cyber attacks by North Korea. We need to be stepping up our security, not stepping down our security.
So last night I spoke to a group of workers--about 500 Minnesotans--who were honored in the city of Bloomington, MN, for the work they do in the hospitality industry. These were desk clerks, these were pizza delivery people, these were people who man our hotels and clean the rooms when we have guests. Many of them work in that Mall of America, and I told them I was coming back to Washington and that this Senate would stand tall in the face of threats such as videos from al-Shabaab, people who
will not even show their faces but make a video to threaten our country.
We have to show our faces. We have to stand tall. We now have a very good reason--my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. I implore them, they have a good reason. This is in the courts now. It is being battled in the courts. These extraneous measures should not be on this bill and we should fund our Homeland Security. I want to go back and tell those workers in Bloomington and in Minnesota that we have done that.
I yield the floor.
I would hope they could look at this in a fresh way now and see that we should just simply allow this bill to go forward while the courts are considering this matter. To me, that is the answer. I do not think they should see it--our colleagues on the other side--as a concession. It is simply a fact. It is something that has changed. So I come to the floor to talk about the importance of the Mikulski-Shaheen bill. The critical importance of this funding has been driven home in the last few days
in my State, the State of Minnesota.
Just this weekend the terrorist group al-Shabaab released a video encouraging attacks on shopping malls throughout the world--a shopping mall in Minnesota, the Mall of America, a shopping mall in Canada, in Edmonton, a shopping mall in London. I do not think we could ever think they would be limited in their threats when it comes to shopping malls in America.
This is the same terrorist group that actually carried out a major attack on a shopping mall in Kenya, killing more than 60 people. It has also called for attacks, as I said, in other countries. In this video, an al-Shabaab spokesman bragged about his previous attacks and the chaos future attacks can cause. He talks about if just a handful of fighters could bring Kenya to a complete stop for weeks, he talks about what they could do to--in his words, obviously not mine--American- or Jewish-owned
shopping centers across the world.
That is what we saw this weekend. That is what the people in my State [Page: S1026]
awoke to. They awoke to that video and those words. I spoke yesterday with Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, with our U.S. attorney for Minnesota, Andy Luger.
We are working with the FBI, and they have boosted the security at the Mall of America. It already had good security. We have fine law enforcement in Minnesota on the Federal, State, and local levels.
The FBI has advised people, clearly, to go on with their lives in Minnesota. The Homeland Security Secretary has clearly said people shouldn't be discouraged from going to the mall in any way.
So the people in my State are standing tall when it comes to this threat, and our law enforcement is standing tall when it comes to this threat, but in Congress our message to these terrorists cannot be that we are going to shut down the Department of Homeland Security. That cannot be the message coming from the Senate of the United States of America.
Rather than acting to protect my State from the threat, there are people who are actively contemplating a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security--the Department we created after 9/11 to protect our homeland, to protect our country from these kinds of terrorist threats.
This would mean--if it was to go forward and we weren't to fund it this week--over 1,700 Department of Homeland Security employees in Minnesota would be forced to work without pay or be furloughed, including 472 Customs and Border Patrol personnel, 953 Transportation Security Administration officers, 156 Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel, and 74 Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel.
We need to act to fund Homeland Security. Think of the people in my State who were going to spend a normal day going to the mall, waking up to see that video. Think about the fact that I have to tell them there are people messing around with this bill over extraneous provisions that are now being battled out in court--and not on a bill that funds our Homeland Security.
Now we also know terrorist organizations such as al-Shabaab and ISIS are trying to recruit people in my State to take up arms and do harm to Americans.
Why do we know that? The first American who was killed fighting for ISIS in Syria was from Minnesota. His name was Douglas McAuthur McCain. We also know our law enforcement, because they have worked so well with our Somali community--we are so proud of that community. We have half the Somalis in the Nation in the State of Minnesota.
They were able to work with our law enforcement over the last few years. Twenty people were indicted. Twenty people were indicted for helping al-Shabaab or trying to go over to fight on the terrorists' side. We have already had nine convictions in Minnesota.
Those convictions would not have happened without this community. This Muslim community basically said: We don't want our kids to go over and be suicide bombers. We don't want our kids to go fight next to ISIS.
That community has worked with law enforcement in Minnesota and they will continue to work with law enforcement. We have already had four people from the Twin Cities area who have been charged for crimes relating to travel for the purpose of going to aid ISIS.
But it is not only our national security that the people in my State see as at stake here. I know Senator Shaheen, who is on the floor, is also from a border State and understands how important that work is as we go up to our northern neighbor of Canada. This is 5,500 miles--the longest border in the world. Over 400,000 people and nearly $2 billion in goods and services cross our borders every day.
That is economically significant for my State. Canada is my State's top international trading partner, with over $19 billion in total business across the board. Over 1 million Canadians visit Minnesota every year--by the way, many of them going to the Mall of America--contributing $265 million to the local economy.
But that relationship relies on a seamless U.S.-Canadian border, with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol keeping that border secure and efficiently screening all cross-border traffic. We have made important strides in recent years with trusted traveler programs to make our northern border more secure, while encouraging the cross-border tourism and commerce that is the lifeblood of my State. Withholding critical funding from the Department of Homeland Security could threaten that progress, leading
to a less secure border and hindering economic opportunity.
Without that critical funding, we risk security. Even a cursory look at world headlines shows the threats the United States and our allies face--from the terrorist attacks in Paris and Sydney to the cyber attacks by North Korea. We need to be stepping up our security, not stepping down our security.
So last night I spoke to a group of workers--about 500 Minnesotans--who were honored in the city of Bloomington, MN, for the work they do in the hospitality industry. These were desk clerks, these were pizza delivery people, these were people who man our hotels and clean the rooms when we have guests. Many of them work in that Mall of America, and I told them I was coming back to Washington and that this Senate would stand tall in the face of threats such as videos from al-Shabaab, people who
will not even show their faces but make a video to threaten our country.
We have to show our faces. We have to stand tall. We now have a very good reason--my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. I implore them, they have a good reason. This is in the courts now. It is being battled in the courts. These extraneous measures should not be on this bill and we should fund our Homeland Security. I want to go back and tell those workers in Bloomington and in Minnesota that we have done that.
I yield the floor.
