Claire McCaskill

I do not want anyone to misinterpret my question here. I think the President and his family deserve around-the-clock protection.

some of the cuts that are being proposed to biodefense I could not agree with more, because there was a whole lot of money wasted there.

I will be very disappointed if there is a request for a giant appropriation for something that the Border Patrol never mentioned to me as a top priority.

He made a very clear promise in his campaign that Mexico would pay for this wall.

I want a commitment that the budget will reflect the needs of the Secret Service in light of the additional protection that is going to be required with this President.

I did not have one border agent say the first thing they needed was a wall.

Has there been any analysis that the VIPR teams are less important than part of the wall in places where there really is no utilitarian reason for a wall because of the geography of the border?

we have no sign-off for reprogramming whatsoever on this wall, and we have no cost-benefit analysis for the wall.

there has been no cost-benefit analysis performed on this wall.

there are too many people out there giving the impression that everybody who works in government is somehow lazy or corrupt or not dedicated.

We have never announced that it is the policy of America that all foreign visitors to our country could be subjected to this kind of questioning and this kind of intrusion.

I do not understand, for the life of me, how anybody with ICE would not want to prioritize someone who had been previously deported for a felony drug conviction.

That should not be the case--a cash bail, in those circumstances.

I think this has a profound impact on our standing in the world, a profound impact on the nature of our alliances around the world, and a profound impact on our national security.

When you all identify a gang member who is in this country illegally, are you getting an immediate response from ICE for deportation?

I think we have to be doing some extraordinary steps about electronic devices.

So, we will track that down, follow those cases, and figure out exactly what the facts are.

The more quickly you clarify whether or not this is going to be enforced next year is really important.

I wish they were--here and they were doing that.

I find that wildly inappropriate.

I think we are doing things that in no way as a former prosecutor trips up the bad guys but changes our image forever in the eyes of the world, permanent and irreparable harm occurring.

I hope that together the Chairman and I can work to make sure that we have witnesses from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) answer some of the questions that need to be answered.

Americans would never put up with this in other countries.

I think it is unfortunate that they are not here, today, to apologize to you--at a minimum.

If we have, in fact, in any way, allowed criminals to come into our country, then there is complete agreement, I believe, of every Member of this Committee that we need to do everything we can to apprehend them and catch them.