On the recordFebruary 8, 2024
first, let me commend my colleague from Arizona, Senator Sinema, for her great and tireless efforts to develop a bipartisan immigration reform package that, as she indicated, we could have placed on the floor with our vote yesterday so that we could now be talking about modifications, changes, and improvements to not just the immigration section but also to the other sections. But my Republican colleagues in large numbers said no, and I think that was a grave mistake. If, in fact, we are facing a crisis on the border, voting against legislation to correct this crisis seems to me to be very difficult to justify. But it is good news that finally, on a bipartisan basis, the national security legislation is on the Senate floor for debate. It is a start, but it shouldn't have taken this long simply to get to the starting line. The delays and continued efforts to slow-walk the process by some can have serious and negative repercussions on our national security. It has been nearly 6 months since President Biden initiated this request--so long ago that the request was addressed to the former Speaker of the House, not the present Speaker of the House. I can recall last October, as we were talking about aid to Ukraine, as we were talking about aid to Israel, that my Republican colleagues-- many of them--stood up and said: Fine, but we have got to do something about the border. So, for months, we have been engaged in the process.…
