John Cornyn: “I thank and commend Senator Stevens and Senator Inouye for their hard work on the Defense appropriations bill. They have…”

“I thank and commend Senator Stevens and Senator Inouye for their hard work on the Defense appropriations bill. They have done a tremendous job of putting together a bill that funds programs critical to the global war on terror. I come to the floor today to talk about another aspect of our national security, and that is our border security. This amendment is a border security emergency supplemental appropriations amendment that I filed to the Defense appropriations bill. At the outset, I made clear to the chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Senator Stevens, and anyone else who was interested, this amendment does not reduce by one penny any funding for the Defense Department or our troops, nor would this amendment add to the budget deficit because it is emergency spending necessary to control our borders and improve our national security. It has now been about 2 months since the Senate passed a comprehensive immigration reform bill and over 7 months since the House of Representatives passed its bill. We are at a stalemate, I think it is fair to say, with no apparent way out. While there has been no progress over the past few months on comprehensive immigration reform and border security measures, I remain optimistic and certainly committed to sending the President a comprehensive immigration reform bill before the end of the year. The enforcement titles in the House and Senate bills are, upon inspection, people would agree, very similar.…”