00:00 Mr. President, tomorrow, tomorrow will be 100 days since Senate Republicans blocked
00:06 the strongest border security bill we've seen in a generation.
00:10 The last two weeks have come to the floor with my Democratic colleagues calling on both
00:15 sides to set partisanship aside and work together to fix the problems on our southern border.
00:22 America is proudly a nation of immigrants.
00:24 We always have been, we always will be.
00:27 Most Americans know our country is made stronger because of immigration.
00:31 But they also know the current condition of border security is simply not acceptable.
00:38 It's a problem going back many years, going back many administrations.
00:43 After decades of neglect, our border security needs an update.
00:47 Our immigration rules need reform to provide more opportunity and fairness and humane treatment
00:52 of those who seek opportunity in America, and the only way we fix the border long-term
00:58 is through bipartisan legislation.
01:00 Let me say it again.
01:02 The only way we fix the border long-term is through bipartisan legislation like the one
01:09 we had in the Senate three months ago.
01:12 The Bipartisan Border Act was precisely the kind of proposal Republicans and Democrats
01:18 have been trying to produce for years.
01:20 It contained the strongest border security provisions in a generation.
01:24 It would have overhauled our asylum laws, hired thousands of new border agents, invested
01:28 in cutting-edge technology to stop the flow of fentanyl, and given the President new authorities
01:33 to close the border.
01:35 Now of course, our bipartisan border bill wasn't perfect.
01:39 Not every Democrat supported this bill.
01:41 But unlike other border bills, it was designed to pass both chambers in divided government.
01:46 If our border security bill was good enough to win the support of the actual Border Patrol
01:51 agents, it shouldn't have been good enough to win the support of Senate Republicans.
01:55 And speaking candidly, when our bill was first released, many of our Republican colleagues
02:00 were surprised with how strong it was, even if only in private.
02:04 I dare say a significant percentage of the Republican caucus would have supported it.
02:10 If both chambers would have voted on our bill without outside interference, I'm confident
02:15 it would have passed and reached the President's desk.
02:19 But as we all know, Donald Trump swooped in and told his MAGA supporters to kill the bill.
02:25 In fact, he was proud to kill it.
02:27 "Please blame it on me," he said.
02:30 Those were Trump's words after our bill went down, and I certainly don't think it's very
02:33 smart of him to brag about killing an issue most people want to see fixed.
02:38 Donald Trump treats this like a game.
02:41 But most Americans just want to see the border fixed, regardless of who does it.
02:46 Democrats have not walked away from trying to get something done on the border.
02:49 We want to work with our Republican colleagues on border security, just as we showed we were
02:53 serious when we worked with them earlier this year.
02:57 But our Republican colleagues must show they are ready to match their border rhetoric with
03:01 real action.
03:03 If Republicans are going to call the border an emergency, they can't suddenly kick the
03:07 can down the road and say we can deal with this later.
03:10 They can't put up a partisan bill that they know has no chance of passing.
03:15 Americans don't want just talk, talk, talk on the border.
03:18 Americans want action.
03:20 Americans want bipartisanship.
03:22 Americans want to pass the border security bill like the one we released three months
03:28 ago.
03:29 I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum.
Comments