Political Quotes

“I thank the Presiding Officer for recognition. Madam President, look, we have heard a lot about the shutdown today. We have heard a lot about the impacts on families and on businesses and on our society in general. We heard a speech recently on the floor of the Senate on how Democrats don't want border security, which cannot be further from the truth. The fact is, last year, we appropriated $21 billion for border security. That was in 2017. For 2018, it was $21.5 billion. The truth is, everybody I know of who serves in this body, whether a Democrat or Republican, wants to make sure our borders are secure. Unfortunately, the President--or fortunately, however you want to look at it--came in with his budget request last year to the Homeland Security Subcommittee of Appropriations, on which I serve as ranking member, and asked for $1.6 billion for a wall. Guess what that subcommittee did, and guess what the Appropriations Committee did. We gave him $1.6 billion for that wall. The Senate didn't pass that bill, I might add. Sometime later, the President came in and said: No, I want $5 billion for a wall. And now it is $5.7 billion for a wall. We asked for a report on how this money was going to be spent, and they sent us a report on how the $1.6 billion was going to be spent, with no comparative analysis on how technology or manpower or anything else to secure that border might work more beneficially to keep our borders secure and be more cost-effective for the American taxpayer.…”