Formatting necessary for an accurate reading of this text may be shown by tags (e.g., <DELETED> or <BOLD>) or may be missing from this TXT display. For complete and accurate display of this text, see the PDF.
[Pages S1855-S1856]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DECLARATION OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY
Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, later today, the Senate will vote on
a resolution related to the state of emergency the President has
declared on our southern border. Let me first say, I support the
President's decision. So I will vote today to uphold it and reject this
resolution of disapproval.
I want to begin where this whole discussion should begin--beyond all
the partisan rhetoric and denials of reality we see from our friends
across the aisle, just the facts of the matter, and the facts are not
at all ambiguous. There is a clear border security and humanitarian
crisis on the southern border of the United States of America.
It was only last week that the President's top officials in the
matter--Secretary Nielsen and CBP Commissioner McAleenan--each came
before Congress to once again lay all this out.
The man charged with protecting our Nation's borders didn't mince
words ahead of last week's hearing. This is what he had to say: ``The
system is well beyond capacity, and remains at the breaking point.''
The system is well beyond capacity and remains at the breaking point.
The Commissioner pointed out to our colleagues on the Judiciary
Committee that the 76,000 attempted illegal crossings documented in
February marked an 11-year high for that month, and, based on CBP
projections, by the middle of this month--tomorrow--apprehensions for
fiscal year 2019 will already be twice what they were in all of fiscal
year 2017.
In front of the House Homeland Security Committee, the Secretary of
Homeland Security elaborated by saying the following: ``Our capacity is
already severely strained, but these increases will overwhelm the
system completely.''
This is one of the President's senior advisers--a Cabinet Secretary--
and she is telling Members of Congress that the current situation is
very much a crisis, one that requires immediate action.
Over the past 5 years, CBP has recorded a 620-percent increase in
apprehensions of family units at the U.S.-Mexico border. Last year's
figure marked an alltime high.
Research suggests upward of 30 percent of women apprehended at the
border report experiencing sexual assault during the journeys. Lately,
a daily average of 56 individuals taken into CBP custody have required
emergency medical care.
The men and women of the Border Patrol are great. They are well
trained, they are highly skilled, and they volunteered for a very
challenging job, but today they are facing challenges they are not
fully equipped to overcome.
It is no secret I take the Senate as an institution extremely
seriously. I take the separation of powers extremely seriously. I take
Congress's prerogative over appropriations extremely seriously, but--as
I argued yesterday in the context of the Yemen resolution--the Senate
should not be in the business of misusing specific resolutions to
express opinions on more general matters.
President Trump has not invoked some vague article II authority or
simply swept aside existing law, as President Obama did to establish
his DACA
[[Page S1856]]
policy. He has simply operated within existing law--the National
Emergencies Act of 1976--to invoke a narrow set of authorities to
reprogram a narrow set of funds.
If Congress has grown uneasy with this new law, as many have, then we
should amend it. If the 116th Congress regrets the degree of
flexibility the 94th Congress gave the Executive, the 116th Congress
has the ability to do something about it. I have suggested to the chair
of the Homeland Security Committee that they examine how the law can be
updated to reflect these concerns. I hope they can report bipartisan
solutions through the regular order that the full Senate can actually
take up.
Let's not lose sight of the particular question that is before us
later today, whether the facts tell us there is truly a humanitarian
and security crisis on our southern border and whether the Senate, for
some reason, feels this particular emergency on our own border does not
rise to the level of the 31 other national emergencies which are
currently in effect.
In my own view, these narrow questions are not especially difficult
ones to answer. The President is operating within existing law, and the
crisis on our border is all too real. So I will vote to support the
President's decision later today, and I encourage our colleagues to do
the same.
____________________