'Do Not Let This Moment Pass': Chuck Schumer Urges Senate GOP To Vote For Border Security Bill

4 months ago

During remarks on the Senate floor, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called on his Republican colleagues to vote in favor of the Border Security Act that will be voted on later today.

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Transcript

00:00 Three months ago, something truly stunning happened here on the Senate floor.

00:04 Senate Republicans filibustered the strongest,

00:08 most comprehensive border security bill Congress has seen in a generation.

00:12 And they did it because Donald Trump wanted to exploit the border for political gain

00:16 on the campaign trail.

00:18 Well, today we're going to try again.

00:21 We will vote to move forward on a border security bill that Democrats and Republicans spent

00:26 months on together.

00:28 I hope our Republican colleagues join us to reach a different outcome.

00:32 We all know the situation at the border is unacceptable and demands attention from Congress.

00:37 Democrats believe that our Republicans have been saying it, and that's why three months ago,

00:42 we sat down with them to write a strong and necessary and bipartisan border security bill.

00:48 Poll after poll shows that a large majority of Americans across party lines support our position

00:57 of getting a bipartisan bill done, and only 8% are in opposition.

01:01 When Republicans like Donald Trump say, "Don't support a bipartisan bill.

01:06 Wait till next year," they're in a distinct minority with the American people from one

01:13 end of the country to the other.

01:15 People want us to get things done.

01:16 People want us to come together.

01:19 And when they hear that the only reason Republicans are backed away from this bill is not that it

01:25 wasn't strong enough, but that Donald Trump said he wanted chaos at the border, they don't

01:31 like that.

01:31 This is our bill.

01:34 The public is on the same page.

01:38 And in the polling data, Democrats, Republicans, and independents are all on the same page.

01:44 Act on a bipartisan bill.

01:46 Get something done.

01:47 Don't play political games.

01:48 And this is a bill that will hire thousands of new border agents, a bill that will finally

01:54 reform asylum, a bill that will commit billions to stop the flow of fentanyl, a bill endorsed

02:00 by the National Border Patrol Union and the Chamber of Commerce and the very conservative

02:05 Wall Street editorial page.

02:06 So, to my Republican colleagues, you wanted this border bill.

02:11 Today, we vote on this border bill, and it's time to show you're serious about solving

02:16 the problem.

02:17 Look, I understand that today's bill is not going to win every single Democratic vote

02:22 or every single Republican vote.

02:24 That was never the goal of this bill.

02:26 The bill was rather to come up with something that could get 60 votes, a majority on both

02:33 sides of the aisle.

02:34 That's how it was crafted.

02:36 And it's far different than what the Republicans have done.

02:40 Look at what happened to H.R.2.

02:42 It didn't get a single Democratic vote here in the Senate.

02:45 It did not even get the support of every Senate Republican.

02:49 If anything is political theater, it's H.R.2.

02:53 It's not designed to solve the problem.

02:55 It's designed to make a political point.

02:57 The bill we are bringing up was designed to solve the problem.

03:02 And Republicans and Democrats labored together in good faith to get that done, and it would

03:06 have gotten done had Donald Trump not said, "I don't want this done.

03:11 Blame it on me.

03:12 I want chaos at the border so I can win re-election."

03:15 That is not what the American people want, as I mentioned.

03:18 That's what the polling data is clearly on our side.

03:22 The bipartisan border bill is something so different than H.R.2 because it is a serious

03:28 attempt at legislation that Republicans helped put together.

03:32 Now, people might forget, but there was actually a lot of bipartisan interest in getting this

03:38 bill passed before Donald Trump killed the bill and told the country, "Please, blame

03:42 it on me."

03:43 That's what he said.

03:44 Blame it on him.

03:47 My friend, the Republican leader, openly admitted that "it's actually our side that

03:52 wanted to tackle the border issue.

03:54 We started it."

03:55 That's what Leader McConnell said.

03:56 My friend, the Senator from Texas, similarly said, "It makes no sense to me for us to

04:01 do nothing when we might be able to do things better.

04:04 That's just what we're doing today," I would say to my friend, the Senator from Texas.

04:09 A few weeks before our bill was released, our colleague from Iowa warned, "We stand

04:15 the risk of losing the chance to actually get something done on the border now because

04:20 I don't see this opportunity coming up again anytime soon."

04:24 Again, that's what we're doing.

04:28 Just what our Republican senators asked us to do for months.

04:31 And I would be remiss not to include the good observation of my friend from South Carolina.

04:37 He said, "H.R.2 was unable to get any Democratic support in the House.

04:42 We lost one Republican in the Senate."

04:45 So to the conservative world, you have a unique opportunity to get border security reform.

04:50 And he added, "This moment will pass.

04:53 Do not let it pass."

04:54 I can't say it any better.

04:56 And what they said then is perfectly applicable now.

04:59 What made them change when they had such conviction that we had to get something done in a strong,

05:05 bipartisan way?

05:06 One thing, Donald Trump said, "Turn around.

05:09 Reverse yourself."

05:09 180-degree reversal, and they did.

05:13 The words I have mentioned are not the words of senators who think this was all political

05:17 theater.

05:18 They sound like the words of senators who were hoping to get something done.

05:22 But as I mentioned, it wasn't until after Donald Trump swooped in that they changed

05:27 their tune.

05:28 So we're going to try again today.

05:31 I hope Republicans join us on today's vote to reach a different outcome than the one

05:35 in March.

05:36 If Republicans were truly serious about calling the situation at the border an emergency,

05:41 they shouldn't delay any longer.

05:43 You can't call something an emergency one day and then suddenly kick the can down the

05:47 road the next day.

05:48 Let me finish with this.

05:50 America is proud of its immigrant tradition.

05:53 We always have been and always will be a nation comprised of people who come from across the

05:58 world looking for an opportunity here in this country, knowing that there's no place better

06:04 than America.

06:04 If you work hard, you can provide a good life for yourself and your family.

06:08 That was what has importuned people for generations.

06:12 We should never let go of that.

06:14 We must always work to give people more opportunity to come here to treat them humanely and embrace

06:21 people who want to contribute to our economy.

06:23 There's nothing more American than that.

06:25 Immigration has been one of the great causes of mine since my earliest days in the Senate.

06:31 Over 10 years ago, I was part of the bipartisan gang of eight led by myself and my late friend

06:37 the late John McCain that wrote comprehensive immigration reform.

06:41 We passed that historic bill because both sides were able to work together.

06:45 The lesson of that bill is, passed the Senate I believe with 68 or 69 votes, bipartisan,

06:51 is we can only do these things in a bipartisan way.

06:55 Only.

06:56 So today, knowing that lesson, we need to try and work again together.

07:03 We know our nation is stronger because of immigration.

07:07 We know that the status quo at the southern border is unacceptable.

07:11 The results of decades of neglect, going back administrations on both sides.

07:16 So to all those who have said for years we must act on the border, this is the chance

07:21 to show you're serious about fixing the problem.

07:24 This is our chance to show the American people that we're willing to reach across the aisle

07:30 and work to solve one of the most vexing problems that affects our country and what the public

07:35 overwhelmingly wants in poll after poll.

07:37 I urge my colleagues on both sides to join us in moving forward today.

07:42 A chance like this sadly only comes once in a blue moon.

07:46 To my Senate Republican colleagues, please do not let this moment pass.

'Do Not Let This Moment Pass': Chuck Schumer Urges Senate GOP To Vote For Border Security Bill

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