When we see how much is coming over the border, I mentioned it and it's already been mentioned here by the Chair, but we've lost over 100,000 people to drug overdoses and 70,000 of those, as you mentioned yourself, are attributed to…

We are allowing this crisis to make these cartels rich to the tune of billions of dollars.

I have traveled to the border three times in just the first 2 months of my time here in the Senate and I can tell you that reducing resources for border security is not the way to go.

When we look at the budget that President Biden put forward, it's clear that this Administration is not afraid of calling out a crisis when they believe they see one.

Respectfully, Mr. Secretary, it's not enough. We have a humanitarian crisis and national security crisis, the face of which becomes very real.

I'm disappointed to not hear you call it a crisis truly because I think that's what we have before us.

Fentanyl is now the leading cause of death of Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.

President Biden's budget request for Customs and Border Protection is a decrease of $1.3 billion and his plan has as many gaps in it as the wall that this Administration refuses to finish.

When we look at what drug cartels are doing not only south of our border but here in our country, we are allowing this crisis to make these cartels rich to the tune of billions of dollars and the cost of that is in real human faces and…

the President announced that Title 42 will end on May 11th and the department's own projections, as we've discussed here today, are that encounters will double from today's level to as many as 12,000 encounters daily.

The department has failed to provide responses to a number of requests from this committee.

I value the work that this department can and should and will be doing and I hope that we see that same commitment from the Administration, as well.

I want to reiterate my concern. President Biden said himself that budgets are statements of value.

We must do better. Our border is not secure and we owe it to the citizens of this nation.

Respectfully, Mr. Secretary, it's not enough. We have a humanitarian crisis and national security crisis, the face of which becomes very real.

When we see how much is coming over the border, I mentioned it and it's already been mentioned here by the Chair, but we've lost over 100,000 people to drug overdoses and 70,000 of those, as you mentioned yourself, are attributed to…

Sadly, this Administration's budget proposal doubles down on failed policies that encourage these kinds of tragedies to happen every day.

I have seen little pairs of shoes at the border and know that those children have a story.

We must do better. Our border is not secure and we owe it to the citizens of this nation.

Why did the department not request appropriate funds to provide CBP with modern, safer technology and advanced helicopters that they tell us they need at the rate of the fiscal year 2024 request?

I want to reiterate my concern. President Biden said himself that budgets are statements of value.

I value the work that this department can and should and will be doing and I hope that we see that same commitment from the Administration, as well.

However, as my colleague from West Virginia pointed out in her recent Floor speech, in the President's budget fentanyl is actually only mentioned twice but climate is mentioned a 148 times.

I'm disappointed to not hear you call it a crisis truly because I think that's what we have before us.

Respectfully, Mr. Secretary, it's not enough. We have a humanitarian crisis and national security crisis, the face of which becomes very real.