Raphael Warnock Hammers Republicans For Blocking Bipartisan Border Act

4 months ago

At a Senate Democratic press briefing, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) slammed Republicans for blocking the Border Act.

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Transcript

00:00 We're not good.

00:01 Today is about the humanitarian crisis at the border

00:07 and its implications for our national security. But it's also about something

00:14 else. It's about a question. It seems to me that every legislator has to ask

00:21 himself or herself every day we walk out the door.

00:23 Who do you work for?

00:25 Do you work for the people who elected you?

00:30 Or do you work for somebody else?

00:31 Do you work for the people of our country, the people of your state? Or

00:36 do you work for somebody who is running for president?

00:40 The onus is clearly on Washington Republicans to explain to the American

00:48 people

00:48 why it is that they won't even agree to move forward to debate

00:55 a bill that is endorsed and supported by the Union of Border Control agents

01:02 whose names they invoke continuously

01:04 supported by our chambers of commerce is a bipartisan bill.

01:09 They have said that there is a crisis at the border and now that it is time

01:16 for the Congress to address it in a bipartisan way.

01:18 We see that they walked away

01:22 and I've heard a lot of words today, but I haven't heard an explanation

01:26 for why they have walked away from that debate. And the reason is we all know

01:32 the reason

01:33 it is because they have received their directives from a defendant in a

01:40 courtroom in New York.

01:41 Well, I work for the people of Georgia

01:44 and I have heard their call for me to come to this place

01:52 to engage with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle.

01:56 We won't agree on everything. We won't agree on many things. There are things

02:01 in this bill be clear that I don't like.

02:03 I wouldn't write it exactly the same way.

02:06 But if we could have moved forward on debate, we could have had amendments.

02:11 We could have had conversation

02:13 and yet Washington Republicans have decided not even to have a conversation

02:18 about something they say is a crisis.

02:22 What could be more cynical?

02:24 What could be more

02:26 Craven?

02:27 Quite frankly, it is the kind of thing that turns people away from politics

02:34 because today is an example

02:36 of when politics becomes about the politicians

02:41 rather than the people

02:43 folk who've decided that they'd rather have the issue than actually try to

02:47 resolve the issue.

02:51 And so I won't turn away one moment from working on behalf of the people of

02:55 Georgia

02:56 who have said by the way that that they need comprehensive immigration

03:00 reform.

03:01 If you talk to business owners business leaders, they know it

03:05 that we need to provide a pathway to dreamers.

03:08 There's a lot that we need to have in this conversation. But today was an

03:12 opportunity to move forward

03:14 on securing the American border, which is fundamental to our job.

03:19 And unfortunately, our colleagues

03:21 have walked away.

03:23 The question is who will stand up

03:26 for the American people

03:29 who will fight for common sense immigration reform who will secure the

03:34 border

03:34 who will give dreamers a path

03:37 and who will actually have the courage to have a conversation to be serious

03:41 about something that really is serious.

Raphael Warnock Hammers Republicans For Blocking Bipartisan Border Act

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