Political Quotes

“I will be brief. First of all, I thank Senator Leahy, the vice chairman of the Appropriations Committee, who worked diligently for the past year to get to where we are today in a bipartisan way and also, recently, in the conference committee, which we thought last week had broken down. I also thank Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, and Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader. I thank everybody else who has contributed to get us to this point. Nothing is perfect, but we think this is a good bill for the American people. It opens up all of the government--the 25 percent that we had not addressed. The conference report includes a robust and comprehensive investment in border security, providing funding for personnel, technology, and infrastructure that is critical to keeping our nation secure and our people safe. Critically, the bill provides nearly $1,400,000,000 to further construction of a barrier along the southwest border. But that is only a down payment. More resources are required. Fortunately, the President has at his disposal both constitutional and existing statutory authorities that allow him to supplement the congressional investment in border security that was made today. This bill preserves those authorities, and I support action by the President to use them to the fullest extent permissible to secure our border.…”