Kyrsten Sinema

Let me remind the DAV that Senator Sinema and I have introduced the Veteran Caregiver Re-education, Re-employment, and Retirement Act to provide caregivers with needed support.

Thank you. Senator, are you aware that the only way to offer an amendment on a bill being considered in the U.S. Senate is to first pass the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed--that being the vote we took yesterday at 1:59…

And it is also my understanding that it was authored by leadership and the three sponsors of the border bill, which your team gratefully helped us create, that we would have an open-amendment process. So would you help me understand why…

Thank you. Now, Senator, I know that you have been here quite a bit longer than me, but it is my understanding that in order to get to the portion of the bill where we offer amendments on the floor, we first have to pass the motion to…

OK. Thank you. Thank you. Senator, I was just listening to your speech, and you mentioned that you thought the bill that we had drafted was a good start but not enough. I am wondering if you would remind us how you voted yesterday on the…

So we will no longer have people just entering the country and maybe going to court in the next seven or 10 years. Instead, we will make swift justice.

Well, I'm so glad you have asked that question, because, look, we have all seen the images on television of what's happening in Lukeville, Arizona, and in Southern Texas, where large numbers of migrants are approaching the border and being…

The reality is, Margaret, that, while the current administration does bear responsibility for mishandling the border, we have to give new legal tools to the administration and hold them accountable to implement them.

This is an incredibly powerful tool.

They're not asking about elections. They're asking about their everyday lives.

What I do have the ability to control, is what I have done over the last four months…

The reality is, is that, for the last several years, cartels have used this loophole to exploit the system.

We believe that by quickly implementing this system, individuals who come for economic reasons will learn very quickly that this is not a path to enter our country.

It's not just a television show for us. It's our daily lives.

We are giving tools to this administration and future administrations to actually gain control of the border.

That's right, Margaret.

I think everyone has an opportunity to be persuaded.

I agree. The crisis on our border is a national security threat.

Folks who do qualify for asylum will be on a rapid path, six months or less, to start a new life in America.

Well, that's really a question for the heads of our Appropriations Committee, who are in the final stages of putting this bill together this afternoon.

I feel confident that, when our bill passes through the Senate and gets to the House, members of the House... will have had ample opportunity to read, understand the bill and ask questions.

So, we're requiring it, not permitting it. And that's a key difference from existing immigration law.

That's right, Margaret. Right now, individuals who want to come to America just to get a better life or to seek the American dream, to find work, those are what we call economic migrants.

No one knows. Our law changes that and ends the practice of catch-and-release.

We want enough time for the government to be able to process these asylum claims and then turn folks away who do not qualify, while settling people who do qualify.