Setting Forth the Congressional Budget for the United States Government for Fiscal Year 2020 and Setting Forth the Appropriate Budgetary Levels for Fiscal Years 2021 Through 2029--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, during the last week, I spent some time traveling through Texas, meeting with constituents, and talking about some of the legislation we have been working on here in Washington and, perhaps most importantly, spent a little time listening to what was on their minds.

One of the things we talked about was the fact that in 2017, more than 70,000 Americans died of drug overdoses. That is according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The opioid epidemic, which contributed mightily to that number, has affected every State, every city, and every community. My constituents, like all of our constituents, are in search of real solutions to try to support those leading the fight on the ground.

I had the chance to spend a little bit of time in Tyler, TX, which is in East Texas, which we affectionately call ``behind the Pine Curtain.'' I learned from some of the folks in Tyler about how substance abuse has affected that area and what we can do better to serve the people who are impacted. I heard from pharmacists, healthcare providers, law enforcements officers, community leaders, and other experts about their efforts. We talked about the need for a holistic approach that focused on reducing supply and also reducing demand, helping those with substance abuse problems, and preventing drug abuse from occurring and spreading into the future.

We talked about some of the legislation we have passed here in Congress to try to help equip them with the tools they would need in order to fight this fight--a bill we call the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act. This legislation provides critical tools to those communities in the fight against substance abuse. It reauthorizes programs to reduce demand for narcotics and provides tools for pharmacists, prescribers, and law enforcement so that they can work together more seamlessly to combat opioid addiction. It also provides support for those recovering from substance abuse disorders by providing expanded treatment options and recovery services. It takes unprecedented steps to combat the opioid crisis, and it received overwhelming bipartisan support in both Chambers.

Now, I don't blame people who may listen to this and say: Well, I never heard about that before. That is what happens when we pass overwhelmingly bipartisan legislation here in Congress. If there is not a big fight about it, if it is not on the cable news, if it is not on social media, then it happens without people paying much notice. Yet it is important work that happens every day here in Washington, DC-- Republicans and Democrats working together, trying to solve problems, trying to equip those on the frontlines with the tools they need in order to fight that fight.

Folks in East Texas told me about how the new grants under the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act may help to strengthen their efforts and help ease the pain of the opioid epidemic.

Then I took a trip over to Lufkin High School in Lufkin, TX, which is also in East Texas, to meet with students, educators, and administrators to talk about the GEAR UP program. This is a competitive grant program that helps historically underrepresented students to achieve college and career readiness through academic, social, and planning support.

For example, if you come from a family in which no one has previously gone to college, well, you may not really know what it is you need to do, starting even in the seventh grade, to begin to prepare--what courses you need to take, what prerequisites are going to be required for you to be considered by the college of your choice. If you decide to take a career path that doesn't involve a 4-year college--through one of our community colleges--and get a certificate so you can qualify for a good-paying job, let's say, as a certified welder, you need to prepare early.

The folks in East Texas told me how these grants under the GEAR UP program help one to do exactly that. The GEAR UP program recognizes that college and career readiness begin early. That is why it is so important that the cohort that is first helped by these GEAR UP grants is of those in the seventh grade--pretty early. I don't remember having a plan in the seventh grade, to be sure. If I had had a plan, I am not sure exactly what it would have been. I came from a family in which going to college was expected. As a matter of fact, I never entertained any other idea. Yet we have to recognize that many young students don't have that sort of example in their own households and that they need some additional help in order to pursue their educations and prepare for good, well-paying jobs.

The good thing about the GEAR UP program is that it doesn't use a blanket approach to support students because we know what works well in one State and in one region of the country may not work as well in another. Instead, the GEAR UP program gives local leaders the flexibility to cater to their students' needs.

The best part about GEAR UP is that it is actually a government program that works. GEAR UP students graduate from high school at a higher rate than their peers, regardless of ethnicity or income, and they attend college at a higher rate.

In Lufkin, 3,000 students have benefited from more than $10 million in Federal GEAR UP grants over the last two decades, and last week, I had the opportunity to hear what it meant to them personally. Statewide, Texas students have benefited from $885 million in GEAR UP grants over the last 20 years, and we have seen incredible results.

I believe there are additional steps we can take to ensure that local leaders have the flexibility they need in order to tailor their programs appropriately, so earlier this year, I introduced the GEAR UP for Success Act, which will provide more flexibility to school districts on how they may use those funds so that local jurisdictions can better tailor these programs to their students' specific needs. It would reduce the local cost share significantly--by half--that is required to receive a GEAR UP grant, which means more students will benefit from these funds and these programs.

I appreciate the folks in Tyler, in Lufkin, and in the many other cities I visited in Texas last week for taking the time to share with me their thoughts and ideas so that we can bring more Texas common sense to Washington, DC.

Border Security

Mr. President, on another matter, we know that Central American migrants continue to make their way to our southern border in record numbers and that law enforcement, city officials, and nongovernmental organizations are struggling to manage this influx of humanity. We are seeing people arrive en masse, and it is not uncommon to see multiple groups, each with hundreds of people, arrive in a single day.

My State has 1,200 miles of a common border with Mexico, and I believe that border security is one of the Federal Government's most important responsibilities. These are people who are showing up at our border and literally turning themselves in to the Border Patrol because they know that by exploiting gaps in our asylum laws, they are virtually guaranteed entry into the United States. As well, the human smugglers who get rich by smuggling this human cargo from Central America, across Mexico, and into the United States are making untold millions of dollars in this very profitable business.

Last week, one of the large groups who came to El Paso broke a record. The Border Patrol encountered a group of more than 1,000 illegal immigrants--more than double the previous record of 421 that was set last month. Only 39 of the people who were traveling in that group were single adults. The rest were either families or children who were traveling alone, and that was no mistake. The smugglers know that if they send unaccompanied children or families, they can exploit those vulnerabilities in our immigration and asylum laws and successfully place those individuals in the United States, only to be told to show up at later dates for court hearings that are maybe months or even years into the future. Surprise, surprise--most do not show up, and they successfully make their way into the United States without complying with our immigration laws. We simply don't have the facilities, the funding, or the resources to detain and properly care for many of these individuals, let alone these children and families.

Regardless of where each individual Member of Congress stands on immigration generally, I hope everyone in this Chamber can agree that there is a problem and that it must be addressed urgently.

In the short term, I hope appropriators can come to an agreement soon to provide desperately needed funding to those who are working to manage this humanitarian crisis in Texas and in other border States. Without the Federal Government's assistance, funding to support these migrants may soon dry up, and conditions in these facilities will rapidly deteriorate.

Additional funding is a much needed bandaid to help manage this crisis right now, but we need to continue working on longer term solutions so that we can stop the flow of migrants without hurting our country economically or doing it in a way that is inconsistent with our values and our laws.

Our country relies, for example, on a strong trading relationship with Mexico. Goods and services that were traded between our countries in 2018 totaled more than $670 billion. Much of the trade we have is between Texas and Mexico. Mexico is by far and away my State's top trading partner. In 2018, Texas exported nearly $110 billion in goods to Mexico. That is roughly four times the number of exports to our No. 2 trading partner--Canada. We also imported more than $107 billion from our southern neighbor. That includes everything from motor vehicle parts, to computer equipment, to tractors, to avocados. It is not uncommon to see certain products, like automobiles, cross the border multiple times throughout the production process before they eventually make their way to consumers. It is a fact of life that businesses and jobs in our communities in Texas and literally around the country rely on a strong trading relationship between the United States and Mexico-- something I have always supported and for which I will continue to advocate.

I appreciate President Trump's unwavering commitment to securing our southern border and enforcing our immigration laws, and I will continue to support his efforts to stop the flow of illegal immigration, to improve physical security, to close dangerous loopholes in the law, and to provide our frontline officers and agents the tools and resources they need to carry out their sworn mission.

It is important to remember that with any actions that we take to secure our southern border, we must also keep in mind the important role that Mexico plays in the economy of the United States. My State enjoys a strong relationship economically with Mexico because of that 1,200-mile common border and because of the sort of trading and commercial relationships I described a moment ago. Any decisions that would disrupt that relationship need to be closely examined and debated and be subject to a cost-benefit analysis.

I believe there are solutions that can secure our border, that can fix this mass influx of humanity that is coming across as a result of the exploitation of our asylum laws, and that can also deliver a secure economy not just for Texas but for the entire United States. In Laredo, TX, 14,000 to 16,000 trucks a day cross the international border between Laredo, TX, and Nuevo Laredo, and that is an important part of the Texas and local economies. They understand the importance of that cross-border trade, and they are interested in working with us to try to make sure we deal with what is broken when it comes to our asylum laws.

My friend and colleague Henry Cuellar, who is a Democrat from Laredo and represents that part of the State, has joined with me in a bipartisan, bicameral bill to fix what the Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security say needs fixing in our asylum laws because there is basically now a superhighway leading from Central America, through Mexico, into the United States, and we are seeing more and more people being drawn to the opportunities they have when they enter the United States and exploit those broken laws.

My plea to all of our colleagues here on a bipartisan basis is this: We need to get serious about fixing these problems. I think the American people look at us and wonder why it is we have let partisan politics overcome our willingness to do the things we said we would do when we ran for office to benefit the American people. This is one of those issues that require a congressional solution. Nobody else can fix it. We need to get serious about finding solutions and getting this fixed as soon as we possibly can.

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