OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Border Security

Floor Speech

Date: May 14, 2024
Location: Washington, DC

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, now on the border, it has been 97 days since Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans blocked the strongest, most comprehensive border security bill America has seen in a generation, and they still have zero plan to actually fix the problem.

President Biden, meanwhile, is taking action to secure our border. Last week, the President began announcing a series of administrative actions to go after bad actors in Central America and to use whatever powers he can from the executive branch.

Here in the Senate, we have not walked away from the table. We know we need to fix the border. The American people demand we fix the border, and we call on our Republican colleagues, once and for all, to join us in taking real, bipartisan action.

Democrats agree that the status quo on the border cannot continue. We want to pass border security in Congress by working in a bipartisan way, and so, 3 months ago, we brought to the floor a comprehensive border security bill, months in the making--a bill that didn't just talk the talk about border security but walked the walk. It updated asylum, had more money for border agents and judges, and was supported by conservatives like the Wall Street Journal editorial board.

Our border bill was not a messaging bill. It was the result of bipartisan negotiation--Senators Murphy and Sinema and Lankford, with input from a wide range of stakeholders from both sides. If both Chambers would have had a chance to vote on our border security bill, it would have passed and become law.

Well, 3 months later, we are not walking away from trying to resolve the problems at the border. We hope Republicans will change course and join us. Instead of just making a lot of speeches, pointing a lot of fingers--blame, blame, blame--let's get something done. It is right within our grasp--a bipartisan bill that, when it was shown to many Republicans, they said, ``Wow.'' It wasn't until Donald Trump said, ``I want the border to remain in chaos so I can win election,'' that Republicans backed off. What shame--that is not what the American people want, and we are going to make sure they know it.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT


Source
arrow_upward