Political Quotes

“So here is a snapshot of what happened. Republicans said that fixing the border was their top priority. They appointed a hardline conservative, my friend Senator James Lankford, to come up with a bipartisan bill to fix the border. They said that if Lankford can get the deal, they would support it. We got that deal. If it had passed, it would have been the toughest border security bill in our lifetime. Arguably, it would have been the toughest border security bill ever--$20 billion for border security, more detention beds, more patrol officers, more asylum officers, more equipment to intercept fentanyl, a new power for the President to close parts of the border when crossings get too high, an end to the era in which an asylum applicant could spend 10 years in the country before their application was heard. It was tough. It would have helped to fix the border. It was a compromise. Get this: It was supported by the conservative pro-Trump Border Patrol union and the left-leaning association of immigration attorneys. The Washington Post was for it, and the Wall Street Journal was for it. It was a true compromise, but within hours of the bill's release, Republicans killed it. When it came to the floor, only four Republicans voted for the bill they asked for. It has now been 22 days since Republicans killed the toughest border security bill of our lifetime--a bipartisan bill that would have helped us control the border. Why did Republicans do this?…”