January 14, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 7 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Pages S165-S166]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           GOVERNMENT FUNDING

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, although three-quarters of the 
government is funded and fully operational, important Federal functions 
continue to be unduly affected, and hundreds of thousands of Federal 
workers have now missed paychecks.
  By now, everyone in America understands the basic faultlines of this 
disagreement. The Speaker of the House has decided that opposing 
President Trump comes before the security of our borders.
  The President has asked for a reasonable new investment, $5.7 
billion--about one-tenth of 1 percent of Federal spending--for the same 
kinds of border security that prominent Democrats actually used to brag 
about supporting, for the very same kind of reinforced steel fencing 
that the Obama administration bragged about building, and for precisely 
the kinds of barriers that the men and women of law enforcement there 
on the ground insist are vital for their mission.
  It is for precisely the same kind of physical border security in 
which a number of my Democratic colleagues here in the Senate were 
perfectly happy to vote to invest billions of dollars just as recently 
as last Congress. The 2017 funding measure that passed the Senate with 
47 Democratic votes included upgraded border fencing; that was in 2017, 
just this past Congress--last year. And 40 Democrats voted for the 
bipartisan spending deal that was cleared just this past March. It 
included more than $1.5 billion for border barriers. Then, of course, 
the Appropriations subcommittee and full committee approved another 
$1.6 billion for border security in a bipartisan vote just this last 
June, and 10 of 15 committee Democrats voted to report the final 
package to the full Senate. Those are billions of dollars for physical 
border security, winning Democratic votes just last year.
  Well, that was before we had a new Speaker of the House. That was 
before Speaker Pelosi and her far-left base decided that the politics 
of obstruction would come before commonsense policymaking.
  Here is how serious the Speaker is about ending the impasse and 
getting the government reopened: She now proudly boasts that she would 
allow exactly $1--$1--for border barriers.
  There was bipartisan support in the Congress for billions of dollars 
of physical barriers at the border before Representative Pelosi was 
Speaker. Now congressional Democrats support just $1--$1--for border 
barriers since she became Speaker. You have to ask yourself, what is 
the reason?
  Earlier this month, Speaker Pelosi declared that the concept of any 
physical wall on our southern barrier was ``an immorality''--an 
immorality.
  ``A wall is an immorality.'' That is what Speaker Pelosi said. Look, 
that is not a serious statement. It would be laugh-out-loud material if 
hundreds of thousands of Federal workers weren't going without pay 
because the Speaker has decided this absurdity is now her party's 
official position.
  Immoral? Was it immoral for Democrats to vote for the Secure Fence 
Act in 2006? Was it immoral for President Obama's administration to 
proudly build the same kinds of steel slat barriers that President 
Trump now wants more of? Is Speaker Pelosi calling sitting Democrats 
immoral because they voted to invest billions in border security over 
the past few years alone?
  I would like to see how this new philosophical opposition to the 
existence of walls plays out in practice. Shouldn't the Speaker 
introduce a bill to destroy the walls and fencing that already exist if 
they are immoral?
  Or maybe this actually isn't a new, principled stand by Democrats. 
Maybe this is all one big political game--no negotiations, no 
collaboration. It is political game playing.
  Consider the latest tactic by my Democratic colleagues. They have 
said that the President just needs to drop his request and agree to the 
Democrats' plan to reopen the government, and then--and then--they will 
talk about border security--except they couldn't even keep up that act 
either.
  When President Trump and Speaker Pelosi met last week, the President

[[Page S166]]

put the question to her directly: If the government were reopened, 
would Democrats, after 30 days, then compromise and agree to more 
border security?
  No, no, said Speaker Pelosi. They would not.
  So here we are, day 24, because the Speaker of the House has decided 
that enforcing our own laws is now immoral, because she has decided it 
is better to prolong this partial shutdown than invest $1 in something 
that both parties agreed was a good idea until about 5 minutes ago--
funding that Obama administration border experts continue to argue is a 
good idea, an essential idea.
  Here in the Senate, I am sorry to say, my Democratic colleagues seem 
to have just fallen in line. Based on their actions, my colleagues 
across the aisle seem to agree that it is better for Federal workers to 
keep going without pay than to invest one one-thousandth of Federal 
spending in the same kinds of border security that they themselves have 
voted repeatedly to fund in just the past 2 years.
  I have a hard time believing that every last one of my Senate 
Democratic colleagues really stands with Speaker Pelosi on this. It is 
hard to believe. It is hard to believe that Senate Democrats now agree 
their own recent votes on border security were actually immoral, that 
it would be better to keep the government shut down than to invest one 
one-thousand of Federal spending in fencing that the Obama 
administration bragged about building.
  It is particularly hard for me to believe that my distinguished 
colleagues from Maryland and Virginia, who are understandably very 
concerned with the circumstances of the Federal workforce, would rather 
echo Speaker Pelosi's fringe position--rather echo Speaker Pelosi's 
fringe position--than work with the White House to find a real 
compromise and reopen the government.
  What is happening here is that Federal workers are paying for this 
far-left ideological crusade. Lots of American families are facing 
great uncertainty because Senate Democrats apparently agree that the 
same kinds of reasonable investments they happily supported last year 
and the year before have now become completely immoral this year simply 
because Speaker Pelosi suddenly now says that they are wrong.
  That isn't really what has happened. That isn't what has happened. 
Enforcing our laws has not become unethical overnight. The physical 
barriers at the border that Democrats used to support in past 
Congresses and in the Obama administration have not somehow become 
radical rightwing positions.
  Walls and fences still work. Border security still matters. American 
families still deserve safety. Reality is still reality. When Democrats 
are ready to reaccept these realities, they can negotiate seriously 
with the White House and bring an end to this impasse.

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