On the recordFebruary 14, 2019
as someone who has been here for some period of time, I was glad to see Republicans and Democrats, both in the House and the Senate, come together in the past few weeks, especially this week. We ignored the distractions and tweetstorms coming from the White House. We reached an agreement to fund our government and make responsible investments for the American people. Not one of us--none of the final four who did the negotiations, sitting in that room, felt that this was an agreement that any one of us would have individually written. There are things in this bill that I support and things I disagree with, but that could be said by all four of us, Republicans and Democrats. You try to find as much common ground as you can. Everybody had to give something, but we ended up with a bipartisan compromise. We had to deal with facts that are based on reality, not rhetoric based on political fantasy. Democrats have always supported border security, but we support smart border security, targeted strategies that address the real problems facing us at our southwest border. That is what we tried to accomplish here. We stood together. We rejected the toxic and hate-filled immigration tweets coming from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. The agreement does not fund President Trump's wasteful wall. After all, he gave his solemn promise to the American public that Mexico would pay for it, so let them work on that.…
