Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior

Floor Speech

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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, before I begin, I just want to mention Thursday's appropriations vote in the House.

Thanks to Speaker Johnson, House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole, and others, the House passed a three-bill appropriations package--Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior and Environment--by an overwhelming bipartisan margin.

Now it is our turn, and I hope that we will be able to get these bills passed here in the Senate in the next couple of days. We have a lot of appropriations work left to do before the January 30 deadline, and we should not waste any time in getting this bipartisan package over the finish line. Southern Border

Mr. President, it is difficult to overstate just how dramatically the situation at the southern border has changed over the past year.

In November, the latest month for which we have border numbers, there were just 11,000 total encounters at the southern border--11,000. Now, to put that number into perspective, the previous November, under President Biden, saw 94,000 encounters. The November before that saw a staggering 242,000 encounters, and the November before that, 235,000. This November, there were 11,000, and not one individual who tried to cross the border illegally was released into our country--not a single one. In fact, it has been months since an illegal immigrant was released into the interior of our country. Contrast this with the Biden years, which saw literally millions of illegal immigrants released into the interior.

I was down at the border recently, and the situation could not be more different from my 2021 and 2023 visits. Back then, I was meeting with overwhelmed border agents and was visiting overwhelmed border facilities. I remember, during my 2021 trip, we visited a facility that was at 16 times its allotted capacity--16 times. During one of my trips, I remember actually seeing with my own eyes individuals attempting to cross the border illegally, and I remember talking to Border Patrol agents--Border Patrol, who, by the time of my 2023 trip, had spent 2 years dealing with recordbreaking numbers of illegal immigrants; Border Patrol agents who were in desperate need of resources and support from the Biden administration--resources and support that never came.

I talked to Border Patrol agents on my most recent trip, and what I heard cannot be more different. Border Patrol agents are telling me that the flood that they once dealt with has shrunk now to a trickle; that they are being supported in their work and are allowed to do the job that they were hired to do, which is to protect our southern border.

I still can't get over the difference. In 2021 and 2023, I visited the southern border, and I saw chaos. In 2026, I visited, and I saw calm and order, and our country is so much safer because of it.

I am grateful for all that President Trump and his administration have done to make and keep our southern border secure. I am proud of the work that we have done here in Congress to help ensure that border security is here to stay.

Our Working Families Tax Cuts legislation made a generational investment in the resources that law enforcement needs to secure the border and deter illegal immigration. We funded the completion of the border wall, new technology and border surveillance equipment, and additional Border Patrol agents. We expanded detention capacity and expanded partnerships with local law enforcement to enforce immigration law.

And these resources are already having an effect. On my recent trip to the border, agents repeatedly emphasized how they are seeing effects from our Working Families Tax Cuts legislation and in particular with the addition of needed new personnel and counterdrone technology. Thanks to that counterdrone technology, Border Patrol personnel can take over or destroy cartel drones at the border, limiting cartels' surveillance abilities and ability to transport dangerous items.

I am proud that after 4 long years of strain thanks to President Biden's border crisis, Border Patrol agents are finally receiving the resources they need to do their jobs, prevent illegal immigration, and keep us safe.

Mr. President, January 9 was National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, and my conversations with Border Patrol agents on my recent trip reminded me of just how blessed we are to have men and women who step up and answer the call to serve as law enforcement officers. From the Border Patrol to the Capitol Police and other Federal agents, to our local sheriff and police departments, our safety is secured for us by men and women who willingly choose to place themselves between us and danger. Too often, the sacrifices these men and women make are not appreciated. In fact, we have seen a reprehensible amount of hostility toward law enforcement in recent months and years.

I hope that today and every day, we will take a moment to remember what our law enforcement officers do for us and how very lucky we are to have them.

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