[Pages S5781-S5792]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Supplemental Funding

Mrs. CAPITO. Madam President, as this body continues to discuss the
need for a national security supplemental, I rise today to discuss the
important elements that need to be included in this supplemental and
to, once again, emphasize the growing demands for increased border
security in our country.
For a nation as powerful and as impactful as ours, there are
obligations that we inherently have to meet, both to ourselves and our
allies. At the center of these obligations rests defending our
homeland. This security is imperative to the sovereignty of our Nation,
with our other obligation being to support our allies abroad as they
face hostilities. We must realize that these two priorities are deeply
woven together. We cannot achieve national security as a whole without
securing our own borders. In fact, President Biden's own national
defense strategy reflects this very sentiment, citing protection of the
homeland as the No. 1 defense priority.
It is essential that border security remains one of our four pillars
that need to be included in any national security supplemental that is
approved by this Congress. In order to properly secure and defend our
allies, we must properly secure and defend our own Nation at the same
time.
As I have said on the floor many times, Madam President, with you
presiding--I have said many times that there is no doubt that we
currently live in a time of heightened national security concern. Not
only is this concern felt around the globe but in almost every State
and community in our own country because of this crisis at the border.
Because of this crisis at the border, we see chaos. We see it on our
news channels every evening. We see the monthly records of illegal
crossings--as a matter of fact, I think several days ago, the highest
daily number. We see how those who are truly seeking asylum are being
disadvantaged by the cartels and smugglers who are playing the system.
It is obvious that the policies which have led to this crisis need to
be addressed, and they need to be changed and reformed.
I often talk about American leadership and our historic ability to
respond with strength in times of crisis. Well, this is a time of
crisis, and our porous southern border is something we desperately need
to act upon.
It is not lost on me or on my Republican colleagues, the urgency to
address the four central national security emergencies of our time.
Ukraine is facing an unjust and unprovoked ground war perpetrated by
Russia. Our ally and friend Israel is under attack by terrorists who
are holding women and children hostage. The recounting that we have
heard of the sexual violence against the women in Israel on October 7
is appalling. Our allies in the Indo-Pacific face heightened concern as
rival nations increase their aggression. Right here in the United
States, we are facing the worst border crisis in our Nation's history.
These four areas are directly tied together. Ukraine's ability to
defend itself and stave off Russian aggression relates directly to the
security of Taiwan and the increased posture of China. The terrorist
attacks perpetrated on Israel have led to attacks on our own U.S.
military bases and ships, as well as the alarming rise--alarming rise--
of anti-Semitism that we are seeing in our own country.
Nations directly opposed to the United States--they are opposed to
our values, our way of life--are building an uneasy level of
camaraderie between one another. You can guarantee that these nations
are watching our self-created security crisis at our border and waiting
to see when we will finally wake up and react. Our country must take
notice of this.
The supplemental text before us does not make any policy changes but
instead just throws more money--more money--at a broken system. That is
not a solution. It doesn't address the actual policies that are fueling
this situation.
The changes in border policy that my party seeks are not ``partisan
and extreme measures,'' as the Democrat leader would lead you to
assume, but, rather, they are substantive solutions that address the
national security threats that we are now facing.
We encountered a sixfold increase of individuals on our Terror
Watchlist just in the past year coming to the southern border. Half of
the illegal encounters now on our border are not from Mexico or the
Northern Triangle of Central America. Drugs that are made on the other
side of the world are smuggled into our country daily, with the goal of
sowing destruction and sorrow. Unfortunately, that is having success.
We do not know who or what is entering our borders, and that cannot be
a risk we are willing to take.
The truth of the matter is, this doesn't need to be a partisan issue,
and I know we have colleagues on both sides of the aisle who are trying
to work through this. We are not just talking about funding but,
rather, changes that ensure that those who enter our country are coming
through legal channels and that they are properly vetted. It sounds
pretty simple to me--both things that we should all agree are necessary
aspects of a working immigration system. But, instead, this
administration, the Biden administration, has incentivized abuses of
our asylum laws that have led to the greatest border crisis in our
Nation's history. It is an open border. It is catch-and-release. This,
in turn, has put our national security at risk.
This is not an issue that the Republicans have brought up in the
eleventh hour of a negotiation but, rather, something that we have
continued to highlight the entire time President Biden has been in the
White House.
Members of Congress cannot continue to ignore the deep ties between
the sovereignty of the United States and the sovereignty of our allies
abroad. The supplemental we have been discussing for weeks is about
helping our allies, but also, why is that important? Because we have to
advance our own interests at the same time, and the border is a big
part of our own interests. This is not a time to play games; instead,
it is time to meet the challenges of the moment. While others refuse to
accept the reality of the landscape we face, Republicans remain at the
table.
For too long--for too long--we have been on the floor voting on
radical nominations to advance the Biden administration's agenda
instead of on legislation needed to help solve many of the problems I
have described, including border security and our weakened defense
industrial base and, I would add as a member of the Appropriations
Committee, our appropriations bills, which have been teed up since
July, and the leader has refused to put them on the floor. All that
serves to do is waste time we simply do not have.

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We must seek agreements that address our concerns, that provide
necessary relief, that strengthen our security, and that will move the
interests of the United States forward. I ask my colleagues in this
Chamber to recognize that.
The time to invest in the national security of the United States and
our allies abroad is now.
With that, I yield the floor.
I see my fellow Senator from Nebraska here to talk about similar
subjects.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.
Mrs. FISCHER. Madam President, earlier this year, I visited our
Nation's southern border. My colleagues and I joined several patrols to
see the problems firsthand, and at each of our stops, what we saw was
very, very alarming. Dozens of people sat on the ground at midnight at
the border, waiting to go to a crowded processing center for illegal
immigrants. As we patrolled the Rio Grande Valley, we passed trail
after trail used by illegal migrants to traffic drugs and people into
our country. Meanwhile, we walked past an open, unfinished border wall.
We toured a raided stash house, where a weapon was found, an illegal
immigrant was detained, and a human smuggler was arrested.
These experiences--they just scratch the surface of the chaos
overwhelming our southern border. Our border is a frenzy--a frenzy--of
illegal activity, and because of neglect and inaction from this
administration, this disaster is out of control.
There is a humanitarian crisis at our southern border. There is a
deadly drug crisis at our southern border. Perhaps most critically,
there is a national security crisis at our southern border.
Since President Biden took office, over 8 million migrants have
illegally crossed our southern border. Border Patrol agents have seized
over 51,000 pounds of fentanyl. We have seen an uptick in encounters
with illegal migrants from adversaries like China. That is not even to
mention the 295--294; I don't want to exaggerate because we don't need
to exaggerate on numbers like this--the 294 known terrorists who have
been identified at our border. Hundreds of people on the Terror
Watchlist are flooding our border. To put those numbers in perspective,
Border Patrol agents encountered a grand total of 11 people--11
people--on that list during the 4 years of the last administration.
My Democratic colleagues support security for Taiwan, they support
security for Ukraine, and they support security for Israel, but what
they won't support is basic border security for the United States of
America. Yesterday's classified briefing on the supplemental
underscored how ridiculous this is. The United States is the leader of
the free world. We are supporting the security of our partners and
allies around the globe. Yet we are told by the Biden administration
and my Democratic colleagues that we can't support the security at our
own border? We are told that our own border security is not related to
this national security supplemental? That is absurd, and the American
people know that it is absurd.
Many of my Republican colleagues and I have been willing to
compromise, but we have had it. We have had it with the evasive answers
and the total neglect of our own border.
Border security is not a fringe issue. According to an NBC poll, 53
percent of voters support more military funding for Taiwan, 55 percent
support more funding for Ukraine, and 55 percent support more funding
for Israel, but 74 percent of voters support more funding for our
border security. That is 20 percent more than anything else that voters
support in this supplemental.
My Republican colleagues and I are siding with the American people on
this funding request. Yes, we should address the conflicts raging
around our world. We must stand by our allies and our partners. But we
cannot forget the catastrophic issues that we are seeing on our own
doorstep. We must secure our own Nation before anything else. If this
supplemental funding bill truly aims to protect our national security,
it must address our security from all sides, and the side that is in
the most dire need of support is our battered and chaotic border.
But money alone is not going to repair the border. We must make
commonsense policy changes to address this crisis. Let's tighten our
asylum standards. Let's limit the use of parole to the required, case-
by-case basis. Let's close the catch-and-release loophole.
I urge the rest of my colleagues and our President to look at this
border crisis seriously and to respond with urgency--the urgency that
this requires. The security supplemental is the right opportunity to do
so.
Side with the American voters. Side with common sense, and let us
protect our border.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
Mr. BUDD. Madam President, the forces of evil and instability are on
the march around the globe. In the Middle East, Hamas massacred more
than 1,200 Israelis and 33 Americans. Iran, the world's leading state
sponsor of terrorism, continues to finance, provide training for, and
authorize attacks against U.S. forces in the region. In Europe, Russia
continues its brutality against Ukraine and is fomenting conflict in
the Balkans, further threatening peace and stability in Europe.
Meanwhile, China is rapidly expanding its military, threatening our
allies and partners, and stealing billions in Americans' intellectual
property.
All this chaos is the result of weakness from the Biden
administration. Starting in Afghanistan, continuing to this day, this
administration has put American weakness on full display. As we
confront a dangerous global situation, we cannot ignore the fact that
for America to be a strong nation, we must first be strong at home.
Before we can help countries protect their borders thousands of miles
away, we must first protect our own borders.
The biggest threat to our national security right now is the wide-
open southern border. For 3 years, the border has been in a state of
crisis. We have grown familiar with these numbers, sadly, but they
remain historic and staggering. Under President Biden, over 8 million
illegal immigrants have crossed the border. Under President Biden,
279--I just heard my colleague speak, and she gave an even higher
number, an accurate number perhaps, an even higher number than 279--
folks on the Terrorist Watchlist have illegally entered our Nation.
Under President Biden, nearly 50,000 pounds of fentanyl have been
seized at the southern border. That is nearly enough to kill every man,
woman, and child in the United States. Given the fact that we are only
able to interdict 5 to 10 percent of the illegal drugs that cross, our
country is being overwhelmed with drugs that can kill with just a 2-
milligram dose.
Under President Biden, there have been 1.8 million known--known--
``got-aways,'' and that is not counting all of the unknown ``got-
aways,'' including terrorists, human traffickers, and other bad actors.
This crisis has got to be dealt with, and we have got to deal with it
now. That is why Senate Republicans have offered the Biden White House
a deal. Here it is: Include proven border policies in the House-passed
H.R. 2 in the national security spending package, and you will have our
support.
It is a clear pathway, but, so far, this White House is more
interested in playing politics and continuing to ignore the border
crisis altogether.
But you know who can't ignore it? The Border Patrol agents, who are
under siege right now.
In the times that I have been down there--multiple times--they have
told me that, yes, we need a wall. We need border enforcement. We need
funding. But what we really need--in their own words--is policy, policy
changes that would empower them to stop the illegal flow of people,
crime, drugs.
You know who can't ignore this crisis? The sheriffs from all 100
North Carolina counties. Many of them have come up to me saying the
same thing: Every single county in North Carolina is now a border
county because of Joe Biden's policies.
The bottom line here is that, in order to be a strong nation, we have
to have strong borders, and, right now, we don't have that. So I am
going to call on President Biden to change course, to work with us so
that we can solve this crisis together. We know what to do. All we need
is a President who takes this seriously and fulfills his

[[Page S5783]]

oath to protect and defend this country.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.
Mr. MORAN. Madam President, I am of the view that one of the most
consequential votes that any Senator will make in their time in the
U.S. Senate is one that we are facing now: the national security
supplemental. I am here to encourage its passage--a national security
supplemental to address the crisis at our southern border, to support
Israel's right to exist, and to counter Russian, Chinese, and Iranian
aggression.
Addressing these issues serves our national interests, and it is
within the capacity of the Senate to mitigate these crises, to reduce
the consequences of these crises with strong legislation, and to do it
before the end of the year.
National security starts with border security, and I applaud my
Republican colleagues for working to find a consensus on an emergency
supplemental for addressing the President's failed policies at our
southern border.
It is time for Senate Democrats and the White House and Republicans
to continue their work, to get back to work, and to negotiate a bill
that can pass the U.S. Senate. We must and we should show the American
people that the Senate can be an institution that can come together in
a responsible way to meet the most pressing challenges our Nation
faces.
I saw a headline in the Wall Street Journal here recently: Does
Congress even work these days? It is a call, a responsibility, that
reminds us that we have serious and significant work to do together.
Those pressing needs, those challenges we face, are support for Israel
to defend itself against terrorism, resources for Ukraine, and policy
changes to secure our southern border.
First, it is in our Nation's best interest to stand with our oldest
ally in the Middle East, Israel. Hamas has stated its intent to wipe
Israel off the map, even saying the terrorist attacks of October 7 were
just the beginning. Now is not the time to waver in our support for
Israel. We must provide Israel with the means to defend itself and
destroy the terrorists.
The United States must also work to prevent escalation from Iran and
other adversaries who may use this opportunity to escalate the war
against Israel. Hezbollah, entrenched in Lebanon, to the north of
Israel's border, will find no safe harbor if it attempts to intervene.
Iran's leaders must know that the fury of the United States awaits if
they become directly involved. We will stand against terrorism and its
enablers and supporters.
Second, the success of Ukraine's defense against ongoing Russian
invasion is vital to the national interests of the United States. The
success of Ukraine is vital to the interests of our own country. Should
Russia fully conquer Ukraine, which remains Putin's goal, more Russian
forces would be spread across NATO's border, requiring more resources
from the West--America and our allies in Europe--to be committed to
defending those allies against further Russian aggression. I don't
think we can make the mistake. Russia's failure in Ukraine will make
America safer and will make our allies safer.
Congress has a critical role in providing the resources necessary not
just to end the war but ending the war on terms favorable to Ukraine
and our European allies. To date, a majority of the funding provided to
Ukraine has been directly injected back into the U.S. economy through
the development, production, and purchase of U.S.-made weapons to
replenish U.S. stockpiles.
Following the leadership of the United States, European nations are
helping shoulder the burden to support Ukraine's military and have made
serious commitments to match those of the United States.
Supporting our partners and allies abroad cannot come at the price of
ignoring the security interests faced here at home. The
administration's failure to control the border has created not just a
humanitarian crisis but a national security crisis. The crushing influx
of illegal border crossings has included an increase in the number of
encounters between U.S. Border Patrol agents and individuals the FBI
has on its Terrorist Watchlist.
Our border is a humanitarian problem, but it is a problem for the
well-being of the United States and its national security interests as
well. As of September 15, border agents have encountered more than 150
individuals on the Terrorist Screening Database at the southern border.
These levels of encounters are astonishing, considering there were only
11 such encounters with these dangerous individuals from 2017 to 2020.
I have been on the border, I think, at least three times in the last
year or so, and from conversations with, certainly, our Border Patrol
agents but also our law enforcement agents as well, the number of
illegal and foreigners coming into the United States who have the
potential of providing terrorist threats and acting on terrorist
behavior in the United States is only growing.
Our lack of operational control over the border has exacerbated the
drug crisis, as we know, in our communities as well. The border is the
single most important line of defense in disrupting these drug
trafficking and distribution networks, and it is no overstatement to
say American lives depend on a regulated border.
Madam President, I stand ready with my Republican colleagues, as they
do, to find substantive proposals to mitigate this crisis. During an
Appropriations hearing last month, I was dismayed that Secretary
Mayorkas chose not to engage on the issues and, instead, fell back on
the argument for comprehensive immigration reform.
I agree that major changes to our immigration code are in order and
have agreed to that belief since my earliest days in Congress. However,
since I have been in Congress, we keep waiting for comprehensive
reform, and, as a result, we do nothing--nothing to make our country
safer, nothing to mitigate the humanitarian crisis unfolding on our
soil, nothing to increase our national security.
Support for Ukraine and defending our southern border are not
mutually exclusive. We can and must do both. It is time to come
together and resolve our differences on these urgent national security
issues. The most sustainable and responsible route to a safer and more
secure United States requires the Senate to take seriously our borders
and ensure that our partners and allies are prepared and equipped to
defend themselves against our enemies.
To my constituents in Kansas and across the country, this is a
dangerous world we live in, and the decisions that we make in the next
few days and few weeks--certainly, in the next month--have a
consequence on the safety and security of Americans today and Americans
in the future.
This ought not be a U.S. Senate that doesn't do its work. We ought to
continue the efforts until we get a result, and I hope that occurs
quickly.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Rosen). The Senator from Wyoming.
Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I rise today to talk about America's
wide-open southern border. I want to add my voice to that of the senior
Senator from Kansas who just made eloquent remarks right here on the
floor of the Senate about the disaster--the Democratic disaster--at the
southern border.
As he pointed out--and as I will add my voice to his--it is a clear
and present danger to our national security what is happening at the
southern border. And national security starts with border security.
The senior Senator from Kansas and I were just meeting with other
Republican Members of the Senate to review yesterday's numbers at the
southern border--the number of illegal immigrants coming into this
country--an all-time record high of over 12,000 illegal immigrants
coming into this country from all over the world.
That is the crisis that people all across the country who tune in to
their TV see is happening in our Nation and to our Nation.
So here we are on the floor of the Senate, and Senator Schumer, the
majority leader, wants to vote on $100 billion in national security
assistance--and he wants to do it today, and we are going to do it
today.
That request lacks serious and significant changes that are needed to
secure the southern border. Without serious and significant changes,
this bill

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will not pass. Mark my words, Republicans will vote against it.
Republicans and Democrats have very opposing views of what is needed
at the border. Republicans want to stop the flow--and it is actually a
flood--of illegal immigrants coming across the border. Democrats want
to just wave them on through.
Republicans want border enforcement, border security, real policy
changes to keep people out and to keep communities safe. We don't have
that today in Democratic and Joe Biden's-run America from the
standpoint of the White House and the Democrats in this body.
What do Democrats want to do? Oh, they want lots of money for
sanctuary cities, big slush funds. Give it to the mayor of Chicago.
Give to it the mayor of New York. And, of course, they want guaranteed
benefits for illegal immigrants. That is what they are asking for. They
are not going to get a Republican vote for that at all, not a single
one.
Republicans know that border security must be a key element of any
bill that we talk about on this floor that deals with national
security.
For my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who may ask why, let
me clarify.
Our southern border is now the most dangerous border crossing in the
world--in the world. Under President Biden, our border has become a
magnet for criminals, for drug dealers, for terror suspects.
The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are warning all of
us. Democrats may want to cover their ears and not want to hear any of
these warnings, but we are being warned by the Department of Homeland
Security and the FBI. And the FBI Director said it yesterday in the
Senate: Cartels are smuggling fentanyl in from Mexico. It is killing
hundreds of Americans every day.
The number coming on the Terrorist Watchlist continues to increase. I
think it was the head of the FBI yesterday who said: Since October 7,
all lights are flashing red for a terrorist attack in America.
Joe Biden's border policies are the deadliest, the most destructive,
and the most disastrous in American history. The cost of this crisis is
too large to bear for families, for communities, and even for law
enforcement.
That is why Republicans are so focused when there was a bill on the
floor--and we had a secure briefing yesterday on national security.
That is why Republicans are so focused on border security.
Democrats have not put a single bill on the floor of the U.S. Senate
this year that would stop the flood of illegal immigrants. Democrats
seem to welcome this national security crisis at the southern border.
It is wrong. It must change.
The Biden administration hides behind terms, terms such as ``asylum''
and ``parole.'' And they use those to release millions and millions of
people onto our streets, into our communities, into our neighborhoods.
And they are bringing with them drugs and crime. And they are killing
Americans. The Biden administration wants to turn the other way.
Every single American feels the harmful impacts of these policies.
Here is what is happening thousands of times each and every day on our
southern border--and yesterday it was 12,000, the highest in the
history of the country, coming in across the southern border. And they
are coming from all over the world.
The night I was there on border patrol about 3 or 4 weeks ago, who
did we see? People from all around the world, including a group from
Moldova. Do you know how many countries they had to go through before
they could get to Mexico to come to the United States and pay the
cartels to bring them in? That is what we are seeing every day at the
southern border.
Democrats don't go down there. Oh, no, they are not interested in
actually seeing firsthand what is happening on the Rio Grande River at
night and during the day. Not interested.
Border Patrol agents say, Democrats never show up. Not one time.
So individuals enter the U.S. illegally. And they immediately turn
themselves into Border Patrol. These are the ones who aren't trying to
get away. There is over a million of those too. And what they do when
they give themselves up, they claim they are in danger at home.
And then what happens? Well, they are released into the streets of
the United States. OK. Oh, you may be in danger. Oh, you got the magic
words. OK. Here you go. Come right on in. Ten thousand times a day.
Twelve thousand times yesterday. And Joe Biden allows it to happen. And
the Democrats encourage him.
Some Democrats have finally started to admit Biden's policies are
actually harming our country. So President Obama's Homeland Security
Secretary Jeh Johnson told fellow Democrats that the manipulation of
our asylum laws--because that is what Biden is doing, it is a
manipulation of our asylum laws--is one of the root causes of illegal
immigration.
At one time, Jeh Johnson said a thousand a day would be overwhelming.
Well, it was 12,000 yesterday. Why aren't the Democrats waking up?
Senator Schumer, who sits at that desk right there, stands at that
podium, and will later today--his hometown mayor--hometown mayor--New
York City, Eric Adams said: The flood of illegal immigrants is
destroying New York City. Destruction of New York City, and Democrats
stand by.
Now, they do want to give a lot of money there, but they sure don't
want to enforce the law at the border.
Chicago is another one of these cities that--Democrats are fearful of
having next summer's Democratic National Convention in Chicago. I
wonder how many Members of this body are actually going to go, because
Democrats across the country are afraid of doing it because Chicago is
being overrun right now with illegal immigrants--overrun and
overwhelmed.
We want to make our country safer, and Republicans do. I am not so
sure about Democrats at this point from the way they are behaving with
regard to the border. We want to make our country safer. We need to
pass serious border security policy changes. Republicans know that we
must end the incentives that are fueling the Biden border crisis.
And more money to these sanctuary cities and more government benefits
to illegal immigrants is not solving the problem. It is inviting more
illegal immigrants to come.
This is a deadly serious situation. I am not so sure the Democrats
who were at the secure briefing yesterday all understood that. I am not
sure the Senate majority leader understands that.
Real border security is a top national security need. Republicans
have solutions to make our communities and our countries safer. These
measures must be included in any national security bill, anything that
goes to the President's desk, because without them, there will not be a
national security bill.
The Republicans are ready to vote against what Chuck Schumer is
bringing to the floor because it fails to defend our borders and to
keep our Nation secure.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina.
Mr. GRAHAM. Madam President, I will just pick up where my colleague
left off.
There are four parts to the supplemental appropriations sent over by
President Biden. One deals with Ukraine. And count me in for Ukraine.
Robust aid to Ukraine really helps us here at home. Helping Israel--no-
brainer--count me in. Beefing up Taiwan makes perfect sense. There was
money in the supplemental for border security, but it really didn't
address the problem we have.
And here is what I want the body to understand. Here is what happened
yesterday. The FBI Director testified before the Senate Judiciary
Committee about the level of threats we face as a nation. And he said:

[W]hile there may have been times over the years where
individual threats could have been higher here or there than
where they might be right now, I've never seen a time where
all the threats or so many of the threats are all elevated,
all at exactly the same time.

This was yesterday.
What did he say?

Post October 7--

The horrible attack on our friends in Israel--

[[Page S5785]]

[Y]ou've seen a veritable rogues' gallery of terrorist
organizations calling for attacks against us.

He said that yesterday.

[T]he threat level has gone to a whole other level since
October 7.
This was what the FBI Director said yesterday. Are any of us
listening?

I see blinking lights everywhere I turn.

I asked him about blinking lights regarding 9/11. Apparently, they
were blinking, and we missed them.
Do you see any blinking lights?
And he said:

I see blinking lights everywhere I turn.

He said that yesterday. Now, why are Republicans, apparently, more
than anybody else, insisting that the supplemental package not only
help Ukraine, not only help Israel and Taiwan but actually help us? We
have got to change the policy because what we have got is not working.
Yesterday--yesterday--12,000 encounters at the border. The highest
ever, yesterday. Two days before, 10,000 were marching in the wrong
direction.
As these numbers go to new levels and historic levels, the FBI
Director yesterday told us he has never seen more threats against our
homeland than he does today.
And since October 7, every terrorist group in the world is calling
for an attack on America.
I asked him about the border. He is very concerned about the status
of the border.
So we are on track, if this continues, to have 3.6 million illegal
encounters that we know of at the border. That is like beyond
unsustainable. All-time highs every day.
From 2023 to 2020, the encounters at the border are up 368 percent.
Why? Because the policies of the Biden administration make people
believe that if they get to our border, they stay in America and never
leave. And if you don't change that, you are never going to fix the
problem.
Six million people have already come to our border in the first 3
years of the Biden administration. We are on track to do 3.6 million in
fiscal year `24.
The day that people think Trump is going to be the nominee and could
win the White House, you are going to see a run on the border like you
have never seen because people want to get the last good deal under the
Biden administration. Because when Trump wins, if he does, all this is
going to change.
There are two problems that have to be fixed. You make an asylum
claim in America at the border; you pass the initial credible fear
standard, which needs to be elevated; you are released into the country
to go to your hearing regarding your asylum claim 3 to 5 years later--
that makes people believe they are released, and they will never show
up. Once you are here, you are never going to leave. We have to change
that.
While you are waiting for your hearing that may be 3 to 5 years away,
you need to wait outside the country. That would stop a lot of the
illegal immigrant flow because when people realize you can't wait in
America, you are home free once you make your asylum claim, they will
be less likely to pay $10,000 or more to wait in Mexico or some other
country for 4 or 5 years.
The second thing is that this administration is abusing the law. The
Secretary of DHS has the ability on a case-by-case basis to allow
urgent humanitarian parole for urgent humanitarian reasons or
significant public benefit. This is meant to be an individual case-by-
case analysis. They are using this concept--the Biden administration--
to have blanket humanitarian parole for 240,000 people from four
different countries. That is an abuse of the law. This law is being
used to just flow people through, and that needs to change.
So if you put a cap on how many people could come into the country
through humanitarian parole, getting back to the original intent of the
law, and you told people if you apply for asylum, you have to wait
outside the country before your hearing is held, then you will have a
dramatic reduction in illegal immigration. I know that works. That
doesn't fix a broken immigration system, but it does give us control
over an out-of-control border at a time of elevated threats.
To my Democratic colleagues, I have been negotiating with you for 20
years on how to fix an immigration system that is broken. You need more
legal immigration. You need border security. You have to have a pathway
to citizenship for those who are deserving. I get all that. This is not
all about an immigration reform negotiation; this is about securing the
border at a time of heightened threat to our country.
One hundred seventy-two people on the Terrorist Watchlist we know of
have been caught. Only God knows how many we missed. This run on the
border is locking the Border Patrol down just processing people,
fentanyl poisoning of Americans is at an alltime high, 100,000 people
have died because fentanyl is coming through a broken border. So to my
Democratic colleagues, this is not about immigration; it is about
national security. There are ways to fix this problem if you choose to
do it. I want to help Ukraine. I want to help Taiwan. I want to help
Israel. But we have got to help ourselves.
There will never be a bill I will vote for to help other countries
that are very deserving until we control our own border that is
completely broken. You need to understand that, and the public is with
us. Most Americans would like to have their border more controlled, not
less, and what you are doing is not working.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. LANKFORD. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Senator from Oklahoma.
Mr. LANKFORD. Madam President, 12,080, it is not just a random
number; it is the highest number of crossings ever in a single day
across our southwest border. That is the record, 12,080. We have never
had a day more than 12,080 crossing our southwest border.
You might ask: What day did we set the record for the most number of
crossings across our southern border? And my answer would be yesterday.
Yesterday was the highest number of illegal crossings in the history of
the country. September was the highest September ever in the history of
the country for illegal crossings.
October was the highest October ever in the United States in the
history of illegal crossings. November was the highest November ever in
the country in the history of our Nation for illegal crossings. And
there is the highest number ever in the history of the country--
yesterday.
What is really happening? The numbers continue to be able to
skyrocket. If we look at what is actually occurring with the number of
illegal crossings, they continue to accelerate day after day, month
after month, unchecked.
We face very real threats in our Nation, and it is not just me saying
that. People may recognize the FBI Director, Christopher Wray, who just
this week in a hearing was asked about the threats that we are facing
in the United States after October 7. He was asking what he saw with
that, and his answer was, ``I see blinking red lights everywhere.''
``The threat level has gone to a whole other level since October 7,''
in the United States.
Yesterday, of those 12,080 people who illegally crossed the border,
the vast majority of them were released into the country today. They
had no criminal background check. They didn't have to prove their ID of
what country they were from because right now the soft-sided facilities
that are housing migrants all along our southern border are currently
running at 400 percent occupancy.
So the goal is, get them through and into the country, hand them a
piece of paper, and--literally--ask them to promise to turn themselves
in, in the future at some point, just go because we need your space
because there are more people coming.
At the same time the FBI Director is saying, ``I see blinking red
lights everywhere,'' we are literally releasing thousands of people,
day after day, no criminal background check, no evaluation of their
history--many of them we don't even know what country they are from--
and releasing them into the country.
In the last 2 years, this White House has designated on our southwest
border

[[Page S5786]]

70,000 people they designated as what they call ``special interest
aliens.'' These are individuals who are coming from areas known for
terrorism, but we had no background information on these individuals.
What happened to those 70,000 individuals? They were released into
our country with a piece of paper saying: Please turn yourself in, in
the days ahead, because we have no room to be able to house you here.
That is what is happening.
Am I the only one who noticed this? Well, let's see, the mayor of El
Paso has said that ``the city of El Paso only has so many resources and
we have come to . . . a breaking point right now.''
The mayor of New York City is talking about this, and he said that
``this issue will destroy New York City,'' as they are over capacity in
every spot that they have got.
The mayor of Chicago has called this an ``international crisis'' that
he is actually experiencing in Chicago to try to be able to manage
this.
As the stories come out on this over and over again, this is a New
York Times story that came out:

Migrant-smuggling is now a $13 billion business. Mangled
limbs. Raped women. Congressional inaction is a boon to bad
actors.

From the New York Times.
So my question is, What are we going to do about this? Currently, it
has been nothing.
So what are we going to do about this? About 6 weeks ago, the White
House sent over a request for supplemental funding. They labeled it a
national security supplemental. They asked for funding for Israel, for
Ukraine, for the Indo-Pacific, and for border security. In fact, what
is interesting is the second highest request they put in the entire
piece was actually for border security. And then literally within days,
the administration put out an op-ed that said the funding request for
border security is a tourniquet. What we really need is a change in
policy.
That same day, Ali Mayorkas from Homeland Security, President Biden's
Homeland Security Director, was in front of a hearing that I was in. I
asked him some very specific questions during that:

What are the things that need to be able to change [in our
system]?

He said:

Senator, we need . . . the ability to remove individuals
who do not qualify [for asylum] with efficiency and [with]
speed.

Secretary Mayorkas went on to say:

The asylum system needs to be reformed from top to bottom.

I asked him again:
[Are] policy changes needed?
Secretary Mayorkas said:

Yes, policy changes are needed.

The issue is not is the need there. The issue is not is there a
problem in our immigration system. The issue is not is this a crisis at
our border. Everyone knows that it is a crisis that literally the
people working on our border have no tools in their hands to be able to
stop this issue.
This needs a solution from Congress, and it requires all of us having
the determination to say: 12,080 people that crossed our border
yesterday is not sustainable.
So what is the request? It is pretty straightforward. It is what
anyone would look at and, quite frankly, what DHS has talked about for
years--not just this DHS; the Trump DHS, the Obama DHS have all asked
for these issues.
They are looking for some very basic things. They want to know how to
be able to manage the asylum requests. That accelerated and took off
during the late half of the Obama administration.
If I can take us back in history to ancient history, in 2010, there
were 21,000 people who asked for asylum a year on our southern border--
21,000 people a year in 2010. That is now every 2 days of what we are
facing now.
What the request was, at the end of the second term of the Obama
administration, was that we have got to reform our asylum system. We
have got to be able to process people at the border. We have got to be
able to not change the rules of what asylum means but change when we
actually do the screening--do it right there, to be able to manage
those issues, so that people who qualify for asylum under our law are
able to come into our country lawfully and people who do not qualify
for asylum cannot come into our country unlawfully.
We all know it is happening. Every administration has identified it.
So far, this body has been unwilling to be able to act on it.
We also know that, every day, the cartels actually run our southern
border. They are a ruthless criminal organization that we have
experienced firsthand in my State. There is drug smuggling. There is
human trafficking and what they have done to literally millions of
people whom they have trafficked from around the world. We need to take
control of our border, not give control to the cartels.
I would challenge anyone in this body to be able to go to our
southwest border and ask any Border Patrol agent: Do we have control of
our border?
Most every one of them will respond the same way, because I have
heard it over and over. There is situational control of our border. It
is just on the south side, not on the north side, because the cartels
are managing who is actually coming in, in what order, and how it is
actually done. And they are paid, as the New York Times article
detailed, billions of dollars to be able to traffic people into our
country. They are the ones who are managing it.
So the simple, straightforward issue is, As the United States of
America, are we going to manage our border or are the cartels going to
manage our border? Are we going to be able to have a system where we
allow people who qualify for asylum to actually get a hearing on a
timely basis or are we going to take people and push them into the
country? And then real, legitimate asylum seekers don't get a hearing
for years, and people who don't qualify for asylum--and we all know
it--disappear into the country and live underground.
This is the decision that we have got to come to. President Biden
asked for a national security supplemental and included into that
border funding and then a request for policy changes. It is time to be
able to address this issue.
And I will tell you what I will vote later on today. Republicans are
going to speak clearly to say: We will not move to a national security
bill that does security for other nations and ignores our own. We will
not do it.
And we believe the American people, regardless of party--I don't find
many people who want chaos on our southern border. They want an orderly
process. I also don't find people who are opposed to immigration. They
are just opposed to illegal activity on our border, unchecked activity
on our border.
So let's get back to an orderly process. Let's have a system that
actually works for everybody in the process, and let's not put the
national security for other nations ahead of the national security of
Americans. Let's do it together.
With that, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Madam President, I first want to say that, as we
proceed on the initial vote today--and I support the President's
package, including the work on border security--I do appreciate the
Senator from Oklahoma's work in trying to reach an agreement. So many
of us want to see an agreement on border security.
I rise today to highlight another part of that agreement that is very
important, and that is the importance of the critical humanitarian aid
in the supplemental funding request, and to urge my colleagues to
include it in a final bill.
Throughout history, the United States has been a leader. When Hitler
sought to conquer Europe, American's Lend-Lease Program ensured
democracy triumphed over fascism, and it was our Marshall Plan that
gave our European partners the resources they needed to rebuild after
the war. When the Iron Curtain fell, American aid kept communism at
bay. And, to this day, Agencies like USAID give nations across the
globe the support they need to alleviate poverty, become stronger
trading partners with our country, and recover from disasters.
We know that humanitarian aid, yes, saves lives in such a big way,
but it is also important for our own country. It is our own security
that we make friends. It actually helps us to spend

[[Page S5787]]

less on military when we spend more on humanitarian aid.
Today, armed conflict is tearing apart families and neighborhoods in
the Middle East, and the largest land war in Europe since World War II
rages on. Ripples from these conflicts are felt around the world. We
are at a pivotal moment in not just American history but the history of
humanity.
Israelis, innocent Palestinians, and Ukrainians are looking to us for
support, and the whole world is watching. It is during moments like
these that leaders are called to step up. So the question before us
today that so many of those who came before us in this Chamber--
Democrats and Republicans--have grappled with is, Will we step up? Will
America step up? My answer: We must, just as we have time and time
again throughout history.
That, of course, includes providing swift humanitarian aid to people
across the world, including innocent civilians in Gaza.
Like so many in this Chamber, including the Presiding Officer, I
strongly condemned Hamas's terrorist attack immediately, in the
strongest terms. It was a massacre of innocent Israelis, and I am
heartbroken by the devastation and the loss of life. But we must
remember that the violence of this terrorist group Hamas does not
represent the will of all of the people of Gaza, not by any means.
That is why I joined my colleagues in calling for a short-term
cessation of hostilities in order to allow for the Hamas-held hostages
to be released and to ensure that humanitarian assistance could reach
innocent civilians in Gaza. I welcomed, as so many did, the
announcement almost 2 weeks ago that Israel and Hamas had agreed to
release more than 100 hostages during the cessation that would also
allow, of course, for increased aid for food and the like into Gaza.
Tragically, late last week, a continued agreement could not be reached,
and the hostages, including, as we now know, so many young women--with
very troubling and concerning reports coming out on their conditions--
are still being held hostage by the terrorists. The fighting has begun
again.
The United States has provided significant aid to both Israel and the
Palestinian people, now and in years past, but we know we cannot shirk
from our duties. We cannot turn our backs on what is happening.
In discussing the need for foreign aid, we must not forget the
continued importance, as we will discuss later today, of standing with
Ukraine as Ukrainians fight back against Vladimir Putin's inhuman
barbarism. For almost 2 years, in bright blue and yellow, the
Ukrainians have shown the world what it truly means to fight for
freedom, and America has been with them, as have so many of our allies.
Beyond critical military aid, the United States has continued to
support Ukraine through humanitarian assistance for both internally
displaced Ukrainians and those who have been forced to flee their home
country.

And we know that while we have taken in some of these refugees,
including in my home State of Minnesota, which has a major Ukrainian
population, many of whom are now working--I was just with a number of
them who work in our Ukrainian restaurant that we are so proud of,
Kramarczuk's in Minneapolis. We also have European countries taking in
these refugees in unprecedented numbers--millions and millions of
people.
When I visited Poland with a group of our colleagues on a bipartisan
basis, just weeks after Vladimir Putin launched his brutal invasion,
there were more than 2 million Ukrainian refugees. Today, that number
is more than 6 million. I will never forget talking to those refugees--
women, children, seniors, kids with nothing but a backpack on their
back with a stuffed animal in it. We heard their horror stories about
homes lost, families ripped apart, and lives destroyed.
We know that Polish people don't have to imagine what it is like to
live through a full-scale invasion. Their history is marked by
invasions by Prussia, the Hapsburgs, the Nazi, and, yes, Russia. As our
Ambassador to Poland, Mark Brzezinski told us, the Poles are achieving
the dreams their grandparents never could realize.
Poland is able to say to their Ukrainian neighbors: We value freedom
and respect your democracy. We value you so much that we will take you
into our homes and into our hearts. We will open our doors and not shut
you out.
Just as our Polish allies and those small countries that I met with
yesterday--the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania--they
are there for Ukraine on the ground and taking in their people and
being on the frontline and putting in an extraordinary percentage of
their own resources, of their spending, into defense, into NATO.
America must be there for Ukraine by providing, yes, topnotch military
assistance, as we have to enable Ukraine to retake half of the
territory that Vladimir Putin took in his initial invasion, but we also
must be there for them with critical humanitarian aid. Our Ukrainian
friends continue to persevere against all odds, against one of the
largest armies in the world, and this aid is critical to that effort.
As we all know, the consequences of Putin's unprovoked, unlawful,
unjustifiable war extend beyond Ukraine's border. Ukraine is one of the
world's top suppliers of grain, and Russia's illegal blockade of
Ukrainian ports has put millions of people across the globe, in places
like Africa, at risk of starvation. By providing critical support for
the State Department's refugee aid program, including food assistance,
the administration funding request will support displaced people around
the world.
Our Nation has earned its reputation as the leader of the free world
due to its unwavering commitment to democracy and helping nations when
they need it--knowing they come out of it; knowing they become major
trading partners and friends of ours on the security front, on the
democracy front, and on the economic front. So now it is on us to
decide if we want to keep that reputation, if we want to keep that
leadership.
As we negotiate this bill, the supplemental, I am reminded of what
President Zelenskyy said just hours after Vladimir Putin launched his
barbaric invasion. Everyone counted him out. Everyone thought he was
going to run. Instead, he stood on the streets of Kyiv, with just a few
people, and looked straight into the camera and delivered a simple
message that was, all at once, a rallying cry to his people, but a
statement of defiance in the face of evil and a call to action for
democracies across the globe. Three words: We are here.
So that is our decision over the next 2 weeks. Are we going to be
here for democracy? Are we going to be here for our ally in the Mideast
and our allies around the world? Are we going to continue to feed the
world? Are we going to continue to stand up against terrorism and
barbarism and help innocent people, like those in Gaza, those in
Ukraine, and those around the world who depend on us?
Moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas, kids, and grandkids are depending on
us. We must be there. We must say: We are here.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
Ms. WARREN. Madam President, nearly 2 months after Hamas launched
brutal terrorist attacks on Israel, we continue to grieve for those who
were killed, and we also pray for the return of loved ones taken
hostage. And for those who have been injured, for rape victims, and for
those who survived by hiding themselves among dead and dying friends,
we offer love and support.
October 7 was the deadliest day for Jewish people since the
Holocaust. I have seen video of Hamas's attack and their terrorists'
contempt for Israeli' lives. As I have said before, Israel has both a
right to defend its citizens from Hamas's terrorist attacks and an
obligation under the laws of war to protect innocent Palestinian
civilians in Gaza. Palestinians are not Hamas, and they should not be
punished for Hamas's terrorism.
I want to be clear about how I see the war that Israel is currently
waging in Gaza. Prime Minister Netanyahu and his rightwing war cabinet
have created a humanitarian catastrophe, killing thousands of
Palestinian civilians and risking a wider conflict in the Middle East.
The Gaza Health Ministry estimates that more than 15,000 people in
Gaza

[[Page S5788]]

have been killed and more than 40,000 injured. The vast majority of
those killed and injured have been Palestinian civilians, many of them
women and children. This level of civilian harm is a moral failure. It
is why for weeks I have called on Israel to stop bombing Gaza.
A 7-day cease-fire between Israel and Hamas gave hope that more
hostages would return to their loved ones, gave hope that a massive
amount of humanitarian aid would reach innocent Palestinians in need of
food and water, and gave hope that negotiations would continue as the
parties worked toward an enduring end to this fighting.
I applauded this cease-fire and urged its extension so that the
parties could secure a lasting peace.
When the cease-fire lapsed, I urged the parties to get back to the
negotiating table and build on the prior agreement so that the cease-
fire could resume, but, instead, the fighting ramped up.
So I will say it again. Hamas must release the hostages and stop
firing rockets at civilians in Israel. The Israeli Government must stop
the bombing in Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid. All of us must do
everything possible to resume the cease-fire and extend it for as long
as possible.
The long-term goal must be peace--two states for two peoples.
Today, the Senate will vote on legislation to provide military
funding to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. I will support this legislation
because Ukraine is on the frontlines, fighting back a brutal Russian
invasion that would destroy its existence as an independent nation.
A few months ago, I visited Ukraine and saw firsthand the courage of
the Ukrainian people, who are literally putting their lives on the line
to keep democracy alive.
This legislation also contains $10 billion in humanitarian aid for
families around the globe, including in Gaza. It also provides
emergency shelter funds for migrants who are newly arrived in the
United States. It includes money for mosques and synagogues that are
dealing with threats here at home.
I strongly support those provisions. In fact, I fought hard for those
provisions. But I want to be clear that when it comes to U.S. military
aid to Israel, American support cannot be a blank check to a rightwing
government that has demonstrated a gross disregard for the lives of
Palestinian civilians. U.S. military aid always includes conditions,
and there is no exception even for our allies.
The United States regularly conditions military aid on compliance
with U.S. law and international humanitarian law. In the case of
Israel, I have long argued that the United States should use all of the
tools at its disposal, including placing conditions on U.S. military
assistance, to move the parties closer to permanent peace and a two-
state solution.
Prime Minister Netanyahu's actions are not moving closer to a two-
state solution. Instead, his actions set conditions for endless
violence.
Since October 7, extremist settlers in the West Bank have
deliberately hunted down and killed Palestinians and, according to the
United Nations, displaced more than 1,000 people.
In Gaza, Israeli forces have struck hospitals and refugee camps,
killing scores of civilians in pursuit of its military targets.
Israel has ordered Palestinians to evacuate for safety and then
bombed the safe zones.
The videos from Gaza of dead children and wailing parents are
shattering. They document the current Israeli Government's continued
moral and humanitarian failures.
It now appears that Israel is prepared to impose in southern Gaza the
same staggering level of civilian death that it carried out in the
north. That is wrong.
I lay these actions at the feet of Prime Minister Netanyahu. If the
Prime Minister insists on conducting military operations with little
regard for civilian life and in a manner that moves the region deeper
into perpetual war, then he does not deserve America's blanket
financial support.
I understand the desire to help Israel and the people of Israel, but
given the actions of the Prime Minister, Congress should condition any
military funding on an agreement that civilian lives will be protected,
that Palestinians will receive the humanitarian aid they need, and that
international law will be fully respected.
Over the past 2 months, I have had many conversations with people
across Massachusetts about the path forward. This conflict is horrific,
and it is deeply personal. I have talked to Israelis who have lost
beloved friends and family. I have held parents who have had children
violently taken as hostages. I have talked to Palestinians who have had
family members killed. I have held hands with people conducting a
desperate, long-distance search for missing loved ones. I have joined
the sometimes-frantic efforts to help Palestinians who are desperately
trying to get out of Gaza but can't. The pain runs deep for all of
them.
This conflict has also sparked a wave of hate here in the United
States. The Council on American-Islamic Relations in Massachusetts has
received a record number of calls reporting vandalism, violence, and
retaliation against Palestinians. A man in Boston was arrested for
attacking the Holocaust Memorial, and synagogues in Attleboro are
receiving bomb threats.
I have had Muslim and Palestinian constituents talk to me about being
pulled over for extra screening at the airport while their White travel
companions sailed right on through. I have heard stories of how hard it
can be to land a small business loan or get a credit card application
approved even when they meet all the criteria.
Anti-Palestinian hate is endangering our neighbors. Three college
students in Burlington were shot on their way to dinner. I have had
moms tell me they are now afraid to say that they are Palestinian, and
they are now afraid for their children to leave the house.
Anti-Semitism is endangering our neighbors. Hillel leaders tell me
they are afraid to walk alone on campus or speak up in classes. Mothers
say they worry about bringing their toddlers to activities at their
synagogue because it could be the target of an attack.
In these moments, each of us has an obligation to speak out clearly
and loudly against hate. Each of us has an obligation to actively
oppose hate in all of its forms. Anti-Semitism must be rejected.
Islamophobia and anti-Palestinianism must be cast off. We should make
our intentions clear. We should work toward those goals until they are
finally true. No one should be afraid. No one should feel unsafe. And
it is on our shoulders to build an America where there is no place for
hate.
But there is more for us to do. We cannot give up on peace. Hamas
leaders make their goals clear: perpetual war and death. But, as I said
earlier, Hamas is not the Palestinian people, and the Palestinian
people are not Hamas.

In the midst of the chaos and pain of this terrible war, I hold fast
to the possibility that people of good will, both Palestinians and
Israelis, can build a lasting peace.
I have long believed that a two-state solution is the best path, is
the only path for Israel's long-term security and the only way to
ensure that Palestinians have the rights, the freedom, and the self-
determination they need to build a secure future for themselves and
their children.
In the short term, the needed work is obvious: Resume the cease-fire,
accelerate humanitarian aid, protect innocent civilians, and release
the hostages. In the long term, the hard labor--the labor that ensures
that we won't be here again and again and again to mourn the deaths of
the people we love and have lost to an endless cycle of war--the hard
labor is to drive toward a just and lasting peace for both Israelis and
Palestinians.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.
Mr. RICKETTS. Madam President, I am going to say something that I
don't think ought to be controversial--that Hamas should receive no
U.S. taxpayer dollars. But apparently some people think that is
controversial.
On October 7, Hamas, a terrorist organization dedicated to the
destruction of Israel and to killing Jews, broke the cease-fire and
attacked Israel.
Now, this was not a military attack; these were terrorists who came
across the border to kill civilians. They killed 1,200 Israelis and 33
Americans.
Last week, along with my Senate colleagues, I watched an uncensored
video

[[Page S5789]]

taken from Hamas body cameras, cell phones, on surveillance television,
intercepts of radio and telephone conversations. It was horrific. This
atrocity was perpetrated by barbaric savages. We witnessed them shoot
unarmed civilians. We saw the evidence of young girls raped. We saw the
dead bodies of children, some burned beyond recognition. We watched as
a Hamas terrorist decapitated an Israeli soldier. It was truly
horrifying.
Hamas started the war. They are responsible for every person who died
on that day and every person who has died in Gaza since. They are a
terrorist organization dedicated to destroying Israel. In fact, we
heard some of the phone conversations from Hamas terrorists who called
back their parents, bragging about how many Jews they had killed. It is
absolutely horrific.
We must stand with Israel until Hamas is destroyed utterly. Humanity
will have been done a favor by the State of Israel when Hamas is
destroyed. We also must examine the Biden policies that are supporting
Hamas. I know--yes, I said that. It is crazy, but it is true. The Biden
administration has already given $730 million and wants to add another
$260 million to it.
You see, there is this organization called the United Nations Relief
and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, and it has
long been documented that they have been infiltrated by Hamas.
This organization, also known as UNRWA, has hired Hamas agents. Their
teachers have been preaching about killing Jews. Their textbooks
glorify martyrdom. They demonize Israelis and sow anti-Semitism. UNRWA
schools have stored weapons facilities for Hamas. There is a U.N.
report that shows UNRWA schools have launched attacks against Israel.
On October 7, UNRWA employees applauded the attack, including 14 UNRWA
teachers. Now we have a report that an UNRWA teacher held one of the
hostages in that teacher's attic, barely feeding the hostage.
This is an organization that has been described as essentially a
branch of Hamas. The Trump administration knew this, and so they cut
off funds, with President Trump saying the organization UNRWA was
irredeemable. Inexplicably, the Biden administration resumed funding
and wants to continue resumed funding.
We must not let our tax dollars go to support Hamas, and that is why
I have introduced the Stop Support for Hamas Act.
This act would make sure no economic development dollars go to Gaza
or to the West Bank until Israel verifies that Hamas has been
dismantled. It would ensure that the Palestinian Authority is not
hiring Hamas or their affiliates. It would strengthen the Taylor Force
Act to make sure the Palestinian Authority does away with this horrific
pay-to-slay policy, and it would ensure that any other NGO that is
working would not hire Hamas or Hamas affiliates.
What we saw on October 7 was inhumane; it was barbaric; it was
horrifying; it was an atrocity--an atrocity committed by Hamas. We must
stand with Israel until Hamas is utterly destroyed.
We must ensure that no more funding from American taxpayers goes to
Hamas through UNRWA as 118 of the terrorists who attacked Israel on
October 7 were educated in UNRWA schools. These schools are part of the
problem, and the Trump administration knew it. I ask all of my
colleagues to support my bill that will end this terrible policy.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Baldwin). The senior Senator from
Washington.
Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that, following
Senator Menendez, I be recognized for up to 20 minutes prior to the
scheduled rollcall vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The senior Senator from New Jersey.
Mr. MENENDEZ. Madam President, as our allies and democracies around
the world face compounding life-and-death geopolitical challenges, the
world is watching what we do or fail to do here in the U.S. Senate, and
the stakes could not be any higher.
Ukraine is rapidly running out of arms to defend itself against
Russia's illegal invasion and the many war crimes it has been
perpetrating against the Ukrainian people. Israel is in the midst of an
existential war against Hamas--a barbaric terrorist organization funded
and propped up by Iran's brutal regime with one singular mission: to
wipe out Israel and every Jew on the face of the Earth.
Moreover, our allies in the Indo-Pacific, like Taiwan, remain on high
alert as China aggressively flexes its military and economic might
there and around the globe while, at the same time, taking careful
notes on how democracies around the world respond when one nation
violates the sovereignty of another by attempting to take its territory
by force.
Now is the time for the U.S. Senate to come together in defense of
America's allies in their hour of need. We have a strategic security,
economic, and moral imperative to meet the moment, and that is exactly
what Democrats in the Senate are ready to do.
Right now, Democrats are prepared to take up and pass the National
Security and Border Act of 2024, a comprehensive package that provides
aid to Israel, Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific, and Taiwan as well as
addresses ongoing challenges at our southern border, including the flow
of migration and fentanyl into the United States.
Democrats are willing to put politics aside and defend our allies and
our values with real dollars, real military aid, and real solutions. We
are ready to secure our southern border against the most dire threats
we face, especially the relentless flow of deadly fentanyl fueling our
Nation's opioid epidemic.
Now, to be crystal clear, some aspects of this supplemental package,
which closely mirrors the supplemental request President Biden sent to
Congress, raise serious concerns for me and for others.
For example, I am worried about funding to add another 1,300 Border
Patrol agents to work at the border. The U.S. Border Patrol is already
the largest Federal law enforcement Agency, and its alarming track
record of the abuse and mistreatment of migrants gives me pause about
expanding its force further.
I also have serious hesitations about funding to expand our detention
capacity by over 45,000 beds. Detaining migrants en masse, including
entire families, is never the most humane or effective solution to
managing our border.
Supporting a supplemental package that includes these items would not
be an easy vote for me and several of my colleagues. It would be quite
difficult because these funds come with concerning policy consequences.
However, in the name of getting a reasonable, thoughtful package across
the finish line for our allies in need, without gutting our asylum and
humanitarian parole laws, I certainly am willing to consider it.
But where are Republicans? Americans might ask. Where are our
colleagues across the aisle who, for so many years, have posited
themselves as the champions of defending democracy and freedom around
the world? Where is the party of Reagan--the party of self-proclaimed
defense hawks who supposedly never bat an eye when it comes to
supporting our allies?
In an incomprehensible turn of events, Republicans have decided they
are going to hold hostage vital aid to our closest allies in a life-
and-death struggle over completely unrelated, hyperpartisan demands on
immigration and border policy, and they are insisting on these changes
without any actual, deliberative process or willingness to compromise.
No, you didn't hear that incorrectly.
Senate Republicans have declared they are ready to tank this national
security package--one that would help our allies defend themselves so
that we don't have to send America's sons and daughters into harm's way
and take the battle themselves when the next set of NATO countries is
invaded by countries like Russia. I would rather have the Ukrainians
fight for their freedom and provide them the resources to do so instead
of sending America's sons and daughters abroad.
Now, why are they doing this? Because they are using the immigration
issue, in my view, to hide behind the embarrassing fact that a
significant number of Republicans in both Chambers doesn't want to vote
for aid to Ukraine and because Democrats refuse

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to accede to far-right and far-reaching immigration policy demands that
have absolutely nothing to do with the existential crises threatening
our allies.

It is the height of irresponsibility and partisan politics for
Republicans to claim that the price for assisting our international
allies is to gut our asylum and humanitarian parole laws, which, I
would add, as someone who has been on this issue for almost a quarter
of a century, will do nothing to mitigate the flow of migration and
deadly drugs into our country.
Think about the dangerous signal that sends: The United States cannot
temporarily put aside its domestic political disputes to confront the
collective challenges facing democracies and freedom around the world.
Such a signal would be crippling to those who look to the United States
for our leadership when confronted with the evils of tyranny and
terrorism. Such a signal would amount to a shameful retreat from
America's singular place on the world stage and would leave us with
fewer allies willing to stand with us. Who is going to stand with you
if you are going to cut and run?
What makes this all so much worse is that Republicans are willing to
gamble our national security interests--indeed, our ability to conduct
foreign policy--over half-baked, failed ideas that do nothing to solve
the problems they claim to solve.
Let's just take a look at a few of the demands the Republicans are
making on immigration and asylum policies.
I heard one of our colleagues speak before that we only just want to
have the asylum crisis be dealt with quicker. Well, that is not the
case. Republicans say, for example, that they want to heighten the
initial ``credible fear'' standard asylum seekers must pass and have
been passing for decades in order to make it to the next stage of the
asylum process.
Well, news flash: No matter how much the ``credible fear'' standard
is heightened, it will do nothing to address the root problems causing
asylum seekers to flee their home countries in the first place. If I am
in one of these countries and my choice is to stay or die or see my
daughter raped by a gang or be forcibly put into a gang, I am going to
flee. That is why we have 20 million people in the Southern Hemisphere
who are refugees and asylees displaced presently in other countries in
the Western Hemisphere.
Unless we deal with that root cause challenge and help those
countries assimilate those people, those are 20 million feet that are
going to come knocking. Worse yet, constricting access to asylum would
only encourage more illegal attempts to make it into the United States
through other avenues that will, ultimately, enrich human smuggling
networks.
Our asylum system encourages order. In fiscal year 2023, 99.5 percent
of asylum seekers appeared--appeared--99.5 percent of asylum seekers
appeared for their hearings before an immigration judge. So only about
five-tenths of a percent were in absentia. The vast majority of those
asylum claims was, ultimately, denied. Then, at that point, they no
longer have a right to be present.
Pushing migrants outside of the asylum system is not in the interest
of anyone who wants an orderly immigration system or who professes to
care about reducing the numbers of migrants that are encountered
throughout the border.
Republicans say, for example, they want to dramatically limit the
President's statutory authority to grant individuals humanitarian
parole into the United States in response to major crises such as wars
and invasions.
Well, here is another news flash: Dramatically shrinking humanitarian
parole risks dramatically increasing irregular flows of migration to
our borders.
Think about what would have happened in the wake of America's
withdrawal from Afghanistan or in the wake of Russia's invasion of
Ukraine if the United States did not have a robust humanitarian parole
system screening tens of thousands of Afghans and Ukrainians for refuge
through an orderly process. It would have been utter chaos with unknown
numbers of unscreened, unvetted individuals from these countries
potentially seeking entry at our borders.
Humanitarian parole allows the United States to be in the driver's
view to determine which individuals can obtain protection in the United
States and which cannot.
It also serves our national security interests by sending a clear
message: If you stand with us, if you fight for freedom and there comes
a life-and-death moment, we will provide you with refuge.
So this shouldn't be about sticking it to President Biden and the
Democrats. The reality is that there will one day be another Democratic
or Republican administration that will need to rely on our humanitarian
parole laws to respond to moments of crisis like in Afghanistan and
Ukraine. By fundamentally eroding these laws, Republicans would only
hamper the ability of any future administration to respond to such
crises. Gutting humanitarian parole only invites the very chaos at our
borders that Republicans claim they want to mitigate.
What these and other demands reflect is the now-dominant and
dangerous strain of Republican thinking that believes that our asylum,
humanitarian parole, and refugee systems are largely fraudulent,
allowing undeserving individuals to enter into our country.
Years of anti-immigrant fearmongering by former President Trump
appear to have clouded the Republicans' ability to talk about our
immigration system based on the facts--the type of conversations we had
when we passed comprehensive immigration reform in this Chamber with a
gang of Senators--Republicans and Democrats--of which I was a part,
with an overwhelming vote. That was a level-headed discussion. As a
result, their policy ideas now are driven more by Stephen Miller's
demagoguery than by any deliberative assessment of reality.
Here are some facts worth reminding my Republican friends about:
Immigrants wield nearly $1.3 trillion--trillion--in spending power in
the United States, and they contribute tens of billions of dollars in
taxes every year. A recent study found that a 25-percent reduction in
the number of asylum seekers in the United States would cause an
economic loss of over $20 billion over 5 years.
Immigrants disproportionately make up our essential workforce by
taking care of our sick, putting food on our tables, and taking care of
our workplaces. They were the ones, when we were all home, sheltering,
who were out taking the risks of their lives in order that the rest of
us could be sheltered.
Immigrants are 80 percent more likely to become entrepreneurs than
native-born Americans. Indeed, nearly 45 percent of Fortune 500
companies--45 percent of Fortune 500 companies--which employ tens of
millions of Americans, were founded by immigrants or their children.
These migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees have not just enriched
our economy, they have changed and shaped our Nation and the world more
broadly.
Ever hear of Albert Einstein, a refugee who changed our understanding
of science forever; Sergey Brin, the cofounder of Google, a refugee who
changed technology forever; Gloria Estefan, a refugee who fled the
Cuban revolution with her family and helped shaped our musical
landscape; or how about former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright--does that name ring a bell?--a refugee from Czechoslovakia
who helped shaped the modern world as the first woman to ever serve as
U.S. Secretary of State. The list goes on and on and on.
The hard, undeniable reality is this: Our Nation's prosperity, power,
and greatness are inextricably intertwined with our identity as a
nation of striving, hard-working immigrants. So it is no wonder that
our asylum, refugee, and humanitarian parole systems have received
overwhelming bipartisan support over the decades. They are an essential
source of our strength.
And let's be perfectly clear about something else. Welcoming asylum
seekers, parolees, and refugees into the country is far from just an
act of compassion. These systems directly support our national security
and strategic economic interest at home and abroad.
Imagine a world where the United States and other countries did not
have systems to provide refuge to dissidents,

[[Page S5791]]

journalists, lawyers, and others taking on tyrants and defending
liberties in their countries. Would they have the same level of courage
to enact change in their countries if they did not think they could
protect themselves and their families if they faced life-and-death
persecution?
So to my Republican friends, I say this: It is time to free
yourselves from the Trumpian demagoguery that informs your current
worldview on immigration. Join us in good faith to deliver inclusive,
humane, and orderly immigration reform that will secure our borders,
provide relief to the undocumented community, and strengthen our
strategic posture in the world.
However, attempting to force this conversation here and now, when our
allies have their backs against the wall, when they are fighting on the
frontlines to protect U.S. interests, and when innocent people's lives
hang in the balance is the height of recklessness and irresponsibility.
We can continue serving as the world's last, best defender of freedom
and democracy without sacrificing one of our greatest strengths: our
identity as a nation of immigrants.
We are the United States of America. Let's start acting like it.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The senior Senator from Washington.
Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, we have a lot of work to get done
before January 19, the next deadline to pass our funding and avoid a
shutdown.
The American people are looking for serious leadership and results,
and I come to the floor today to be clear about what the standard for
success is here.
We need to pass regular, full-year funding, based on the bipartisan
spending agreement from earlier this year, that actually responds to
the challenges before us. Anything less means missing critical
opportunities and worse.
A ``date-change, full-year CR,'' as proposed by House Speaker
Johnson, would be unprecedented and reckless.
Why is that? Well, because the Speaker's proposal would lock in
outdated spending plans and devastating across-the-board cuts while
locking all of us out of any kind of thoughtful decision-making process
for our Nation's future, all of which should be absolutely unacceptable
to everyone here.
It is one thing to have a short-term CR so we have additional time to
negotiate in good faith and finish passing bills, full-year bills that
strengthen our Nation, but it is another thing entirely to do a
yearlong CR because we have no intention of doing our job.
We cannot just throw up our hands, act like nothing in the world has
changed in the past 12 months, abdicate our responsibility to our
constituents, and box in our Nation's future by putting the government
on autopilot.
When you put the government on autopilot, without direction or any
consideration of changing needs, you are functionally causing year-
over-year funding cuts without any rhyme, reason, or recalibration for
new and changing priorities, causing huge uncertainties and
inefficiencies across our Federal Government and seriously impairing
every single one of our Agencies' ability to fulfill their mission and
move our country forward. And that, by the way, is all before taking
into account the incredibly steep across-the-board cuts that would come
into play under this scenario under our Fiscal Responsibility Act.
This runs way deeper than numbers, at best, stagnating on a page and
Agencies cutting hard-working staff and crucial services. We are
talking about missing opportunities on issues where the clock is
ticking, pulling the rug out from our families who are struggling, and
undermining our national defense and security in front of the whole
world.
I think we all understand now is a dangerous time to signal America's
global leadership is faltering, but that is exactly the message a
yearlong CR would send: a year of America's military falling behind and
a year of our diplomatic and humanitarian efforts falling behind.
When we put our government on autopilot, we are telling the world
Congress is asleep at the wheel and incapable of responding to the
growing threats of an ever more dangerous world.

In practical terms for defense, as my colleague--the senior Senator
from Maine and vice chair of the committee--said here on this floor
recently, it means the Pentagon freezing 330 new programs or production
increases. It means falling behind in building our ships and our subs
and much more and doing so, by the way, at a time when China already
has a larger navy.
It means essentially no new progress in our efforts to strengthen our
military and diplomatic footprint in the Indo-Pacific so we can forge
strong partnerships and deter aggression from the Chinese Government.
This is something we devoted significant thought and resources to
across our bipartisan spending bills, with new funding for our Indo-
Pacific strategy and the Countering PRC Influence Fund, not to mention
other global leadership investments like the new Economic Resilience
Initiative that will help strengthen our supply chains for critical
resources and weaken the financial pressure our competitors can exert
on key U.S. partners.
But all that goes out the window with a full-year CR, particularly
under the construct that has been proposed by the Speaker of the House,
where he would simply change a date and quit--change a date and quit.
Can you imagine a leader, one of the highest ranking officials in
this country, if not the world, seriously proposing that as an answer
right now?
Under the yearlong CR, we would not have critical funding increases
to support our servicemembers, to support their families, from troop
readiness essentials like recruitment and training to family support
like childcare and barracks, to other projects like the Shipyard
Infrastructure Optimization Plan.
I also want to remind our colleagues, a full-year CR would not just
hurt our national security, it would be devastating for our families
and our communities across the country and our country's future.
When it comes to keeping our economy strong, there are simply too
many missed opportunities to even list.
We would lose out increases in bolstering trade and U.S. business
competitiveness. We would lose out on strengthening our supply chain
and building innovation hubs. We would lose out on research funding for
manufacturing; AI; agriculture; clean energy; cures and treatments for
cancer, Alzheimer's, and other terrible diseases and a lot more.
We would lose ground in our plans to send Americans back to the Moon,
while the Chinese Government is going full speed ahead.
And when it comes to fighting the opioid epidemic, resigning our
Nation to a yearlong CR means the increased investments that we did
include in our Senate bills to keep fentanyl out of our country by
stopping drug cartels and getting help to patients and families won't
happen.
Instead, stagnant funding means furloughs at our border and thousands
of pounds of illicit drugs reaching our communities.
A CR also will not include any funding to reform cosmetics safety or
retirement security or the organ donation and transplant system.
And let's talk about WIC. WIC is the lifeline for moms who need
formula, nutritious food, and other essentials to feed their babies. It
is at risk of being severely underfunded by a CR.
I grew up in a family who knew what it meant to fall on hard times
and have a government that had our backs. I will not let our country
pull out the rug from folks in their time of need. But if we put
spending on autopilot for the next year, we will be kicking struggling
families off benefits and onto wait-lists.
It is not just WIC that is going to see these painful shortfalls that
will ultimately hurt families, it is programs that keep families warm
in the winter or cool in the summer and safe from extreme temperatures
like LIHEAP. It is programs that give people healthcare, like community
health centers and the new suicide prevention lifeline. It is programs
that make sure families have a roof over their head, rental assistance,
affordable housing, homelessness prevention--programs that already
can't meet the needs in their communities.
It is the Social Security Administration, for crying out loud. A CR
would

[[Page S5792]]

force them to reduce hours and lay off staff. You want to call up and
sign up for new benefits or see how you can fix a problem? There will
be no one to answer you--long wait times.
And let's not forget, it is programs for folks who are trying to
improve their situation, get a better job, and further their own
career. A CR means no increases for apprenticeship funding, workforce
training, or the maximum Pell amount.
What else do parents need if they are going to go to work? I have
said it many times, childcare. We are in a childcare crisis, and with a
full-year CR, this is only going to go from bad to worse because we
will be resigned to across-the-board cuts to our Nation's childcare
programs.
And our public schools also will face tight budgets. Kids are still
recovering from this pandemic, and we can't afford to provide our
schools less funding when our students deserve and need more support.
It is that simple.
Look, I have been going on for a while. But the truth is, I have
barely scratched the surface on what we will lose with a full-year CR:
Increases throughout our bills to support Tribal communities, gone;
over a billion dollars for FAA modernization efforts, gone; housing for
wildland firefighters, improvements in our rail system, next-generation
weather satellites, gone, gone, and gone.
And here is the kicker: I have only been talking so far about half
the equation because the Fiscal Responsibility Act would force
absolutely devastating across-the-board cuts on virtually all domestic
programs that could be as much as nearly 10 percent.
Let's be clear about the damage here. Immediate hiring freezes and
furloughs at just about every Agency. Millions of women and kids would
lose WIC benefits; wait times at ports of entry would quadruple; wait
times for new business permits from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and
Trade Bureau would increase fivefold; nearly 1,000 fewer full-time food
safety inspectors; 2,500 fewer national park employees and less staff
and equipment for our Federal firefighters; 5,000 scientists, students,
and technical staff no longer receiving research support at our
national labs and universities; 130,000 fewer small businesses getting
training and counseling from the Small Business Association; nearly
700,000 households losing Federal housing assistance and being pushed
toward homelessness; 2\1/2\ million patients across Indian Country hurt
by a $235 million cut to the Indian Health Service hospitals and
clinics.
And that is the tip of the iceberg. We are talking tens of billions
of dollars slashed to programs that keep our country competitive and
our economy strong and our families safe and sound. So this is really
no run-of-the-mill CR outcome, which would be bad enough as it is.
The bottom line here is this: We have a job to do. We have a job to
do. Our constituents expect us to come to work, to listen to them,
respond to the challenges in their life, write the bills, solve our
problems, and deliver results. At a minimum, they expect us to try--not
threaten, as the Speaker is doing, to change a few words and give up.
A long-term CR wouldn't just shut out their voices, it would cede
ground to our adversaries, let America fall behind, and cut off vital
resources families count on each and every day.
If we want to make sure that America continues to lead; if we want a
strong, competitive economy; if we want a safer world; and if we want a
real future for our families, we cannot just throw our hands up and
hope for the best. We have to come together, do the hard work of
governing, hammer out bipartisan spending bills that actually reflect
what we think our Nation needs, get back to the bipartisan spending
agreement that the House Republicans wanted--actually, getting back to
that, they demanded it--and agree that extreme partisan riders have no
place in our spending bills.
In the full Senate here, as the Presiding Officer knows, we wrote 12
bipartisan spending bills that follow the full terms of the bipartisan
spending agreement, but now we need House Republicans to hold up their
end of the bargain. That means sticking to the entire agreement and
using the full resources it provides for defense and domestic programs.
We cannot move forward if House Republicans are busy trying to go
back on their word, especially for a deal that they pushed for and
negotiated in the first place. Let's all remember that House
Republicans were the ones who chose to hold the debt limit hostage
until they secured this agreement. Let's also remember it was their
leader who negotiated this deal directly with the President. They cut
this deal. When you negotiate a deal, you don't then bargain over how
much of your word you are going to keep. Deals are built on common
ground and mutual trust, not shifting sand.
So, Madam President, I will be clear. I am not calling on Republicans
to do anything extreme here or anything I wouldn't do myself. I get
that no one ever gets everything they want, especially in a divided
government. In fact, as I have said many times, I believe the cuts that
were enacted by the Fiscal Responsibility Act set us back. But that was
the deal. That was the deal we voted on. So, here in the Senate, we did
write 12 bipartisan bills to those terms. That is the job. That is what
legislating looks like in a divided government.
If we are going to avoid an unnecessary shutdown or an absolutely
unacceptable, inflexible, yearlong CR--for the first time ever--we need
everyone to get real about just what is at stake if we give up on
writing serious, full-year funding bills. And that is just what it is
going to take to get that done. So I call on everybody: Let's do our
job.