christopher wray stated in response to my question, what has now increased is a greater possibility of one of these foreign terrorist organizations dire directly -- in the united states. it's time to be concerned. we're in a dangerous period, according to director wray. the terrorist threats have elevated. silence since joe biden took office. these are all director wray's words. with an open border, it's obvious how and where foreign terrorist organizations would insert their fighters into our country. president biden's failure to secure the border means it's up to republicans to use any leverage we can, including his administration's desire to provide foreign aid to ukraine once and for all. regardless how anyone feels regarding support for ukraine and we are skeptical, we believe securing america's border and protecting our citizens should take precedence. a recent column stated that

support for ukraine combined with, quote, modest immigration reform would be a win-win. with a president who actually wanted to secure the border and could be counted on to execute the laws that congress passes, that might be true. but unfortunately we have a lawless administration and a president who wants an open border. remember when the supreme court ruled that eviction moratorium was unconstitutional? president biden extended it anyway. they -- scotus also ruled that student loans was unconstitutional f republicans must insist that not only on strong legislative language also make any ukraine funding contingent on achieving benchmarks proving the border is being secured. the metric should be number of migrants dispersed in america each month, which would include but not be limited to migrants

encountered, processed and released regardless of the waiver or program used plus if you got away. each month the administration would be forced to reduce the number of migrants getting into america and it's ability to disperse money will be tied to achieving those monthly goals. under existing law, president trump went from peak to trough in 12 months using remain in mexico and safe third country agreements in central america. using that precedent, releasing aid to ukraine only as we ramp down to a secure border over a is it-month period is a reasonable expectation aumf house republicans should not consider and senate republicans should deny cloture on any ukraine funding that falls short of this requirement. that's what we wrote then and that's what we believe today. we made our position very clear

and nearly all of our fellow republican senators agreed with this when we spoke about it in our meetings. we all agreed. i remain interested in negotiating and voting for a bill that secures our border today, stops the flow of drugs across our border, so fewer americans die, and stops more criminals, terrorists and human traffickers from coming to communities now in a fiscally responsible manner. -- irresponsible manner. when i was in birx i negotiated and closed a lot of deals. i knew that if i couldn't walk away from the table, i would never get a good deal. also if the people sitting across the table didn't want the same outcome as i did. we have to walk away until we are negotiating with people who want the same goals as our conference -- a secure border today. the result, you recall is what we have before us today -- a

wildly unaccountable foreign aid package that does absolutely nothing to secure the u.s. southern border and could funnel billions in borrowed money to hamas terrorists and to the salaries of ukrainian politicians. this bill claims to address the invasion of ukraine while ignoring the invasion we face here in the united states. this bill puts billions of borrowed money into gaza, which is still dominated by the hamas terrorists who killed 1,200 realize and nearly 30 americans, 30 americans. they're still holding american hostages. i am unapologetically pro-israel. i've had the honor of visiting israel five times as both florida's governor and as a u.s. senator. what happened on october 7 horrified the world and struck me personally.

to -- two of my grandsons were staying with me that morning and we watched with horror what happened. i told them about my visits to israel and visits to one of the kibbutz close to the gaza strip. my wife ann and i visited kfar aza, site to a complete massacre. as the earlier reports were coming out, i was worried about the kibbutz because of its proximity to gaza. i told my grandsons this -- when i heard the news that it was the site of some of the most horrific and elbaradeiic activities -- barbaric activities, my heart sank. i knew so many people there. my wife and i spent an afternoon there and it was one of the most peaceful placings we ever visited. i kept thinking about the moms and kids playing outside enjoying the warm summer weather. it is gut-wrenching to think of

the fate of the families that day. i spoke with a lady who let us tour the kibbutz who survived. if she had been home, she wouldn't have survived. most of the people on her street were murdered just because they were jews. i was able to talk with her and she had not yet been able tok home. she said it was unclear if she will ever be allowed back. can you even imagine so many of us in this chamber are so deeply connected to israel and i bet many of you have a story like mine. the day we went to the kibbutz, we walked, we walked all around. we walked where, you know, they call their kids to school. we saw it was moms and kids, the dads were all at work, saw the bomb shelters which are basically -- what they were set

up for is for missile attacks. they were telling me stories about how hamas was sending balloons over and they would have explosives on them with the hope that the kids would 00 grab the balloons and get hurt. we were told that when the missile came, they had 15 seconds to get ready to get into a bomb shelter. they said the kids learned as soon as the sirens went off to raise their hands because hopefully somebody radio pick them up and take them to a bomb shelter. you know, people in the idf have been culled to serve, many from my great state of florida. we have friends all over florida who have spent days in bomb shelters as rockets have been launched by terrorists intent on wiping realize and jews off the face of the earth. i met with survivors and hostage families. i'll give you within of the stories. a young lady was out at the festival and she had been at the festival the year before and had a great time, so she was going

to go this year with her boyfriend and she invited, i think, every friend she knew to the festival. every one of her friends was killed except for two that were taken hostage. when i met with her, she didn't know what happened to them, and she was just -- she was in shock because every one of he had friends is dead. and it's because she invited them. i placed a poster outside my office that features the faces of the hostages being held by hamas. i'm not going to take it down until they're home. you know, we have these hamas protesters come into the capitol and they ask for a cease-fire. i think it is great to have a cease-fire the day after every hamas terrorist is dead, every hamas terrorist should be killed. what they've done is despicable.

these monsters, if you've seen any of the video, they beheaded children and babies, they raped girls and burned innocent civilians alive. can you imagine? it's barbaric. they dragged innocent people through the streets and are now holding them as hostages in gaza, which these terrorists absolutely control. it is unimaginable that the united states would ever consider, we would ever consider sending money to a place where we know it will be used to help terrorists who are holding americans hostages, but that's exactly what this bill does. you know what i don't understand is, i have not seen one picture of joe biden in the white house situation room talking about what he's doing to bring home any american hostages. not one. i think of that first speech he gave when he talked about what happened on october 7. he talked about hostages like 15 seconds.

it's like he does not care. you talk about the things you care about. he never talks about american hostages, ever. so how does it feel to be an american family with a family member that's held hostage in gaza and knowing that your president doesn't care? and i wanted to make sure everyone understands what i'm saying here, which is a fact -- every dollar, every dollar that goes to gaza directly benefits hamas. how do they pay for all those tunnels? how do they pay for all those rockets? how do they pay for it? they take -- they take humanitarian aid and use it to do those things. you saw the attack in israel. they had humanitarian aid first aid kits that they took with them. every day since october 7 i've been telling the stories of those being held hostage in gaza

by iran-backed hamas terrorists. i think it is important that the world never forgets, never forgets, never forgets what happened on october 7. i have a poster outside my office that features the faces of the hostages, and i will not take it down until they are a all home. unfortunately, president joe biden has not done the same. i don't understand why the president of the united states isn't speaking every single day. he should be speaking every single day about americans being held hostage by hamas terrorists and what he is doing to get them out. the idf just rescued two american hostages in a mission that the biden administration urged them not to do. can you imagine? the idf was urged not to do something by the biden administration that rescued two american hostages.

who do this? what president would do this? what has biden done to rescue american hostages? my colleagues were recalling the name of 9-year-old emmy hand. they lived in a kibbutz tarreded by hamas in the attacks. i guess quite a few individuals i met with hostages, people that survived the attack. by the grace of god were they alive. they have not been able to go home. in the days following the attacks, emily's dad was initially told that his daughter had spent the night at a friend's house just a few doors down and was killed. madam president, i am a father of two daughters, a grandfather of seven grandchildren. watching this father speak about the murder of his farther is

heart-wrenching. he said to cnn at the time, quote, they just said we found emily and she's dead. and what did he say? here's what he said. and i went, yes! and smiled because that is the best news of the possibilities that i knew. she was either dead or in gaza. if you know anything about what they do to people in gaza, that is worse than death. this is the name -- this is the statement of a father of a daughter that thought it would be better for her to be dead than to be a hostage in gaza. soon to his relief and horror, thomas learned that emily was in fact alive and being held hostage by hamas. this beautiful, innocent little girl spent 50 days as a hostage in gaza. if you go look at the poster outside my office, these are beautiful people. innocent individuals.

i'm sure that thomas thanks god every day to have his little girl back in his arms again. he knows that the child he had on october 6, that child is no longer alive. emily will never be the same as she was before she was taken. it's been more than 120 days since the attack, a and some parents are still waiting for their children to come home. can you imagine? your child has been kidnapped and you have no idea what's happened to them. all you can assume is the worst. a little baby kfir bibas, his four-year-old brother is still also being held hostage. there was a group of individuals that put together milk cartons with the pictures of the hostages like, you know, kids that were on the missing list for americans. they've done it and distributed

these around the country. itch he got one -- i've got one in my office with a picture of ariel, a 4-year-old boy. their parents have been waiting for more than four months to hold their babies again. now, unfortunately, we have heard horrible reports that these innocent children may no longer be alive. why is joe biden giving money top gazans who are holding american hostages? what american president would do that in do that? why would we allow joe biden to give more money to gazans who are holding americans hostage? i just can't believe this is happening. when will this stop? why the heck are we allowing biden to send more money to gaza in this bill? when we know that every dollar that goes to gaza funds the terrorism of hamas? more tunnels, more weapons, more rockets, more destruction.

hamas is there to kill jews and destroy israel, our ally. what are we doing to get american hostages released? do we have a daily report from joe biden on what he's doing? do we have a report by general austin of what he's done? if we had any idea what the biden administration is doing to get american hostages home? i want to stop stating this fact -- every dollar goes no directly benefits hamas. hamas takes them hostage and joe biden gives gazans money that goes to benefit hamas. you can't make this stuff up. that is the undeniable truth. that's why i've been fighting for years to pass my stop taxpayer funding to hamas act which prevents u.s. tax dollars

from going to gaza unless the biden administration can certify not a single cent will go to hamas. pretty basic. the hold american -- they hold americans hostage, they shouldn't get money. this isn't a solution in search of a problem. it addresses a very real threat of taxpayer money funding iron-backed terrorism that seeks to destroy israel and kill jews and kill americans. we cannot allow an american family with a family member being held hostage in gaza to see their tax dollars go -- an american family, your daughter is being held hostage and your tax dollars go to the same people holding your daughter hostage. joe biden's doing that. we've seen reports the palestinian authority has been paying over $300 million a year in monthly salaries to terrorist prisoners, in monthly allowances

to families of dead terrorists. you wouldn't think that joe biden would want to give any money to the palestinian authority. the palestinian authority who pays terrorists and their families should not receive u.s. tax dollars. but this bill would allow more of that. you can't believe this is happening with your tax dollars. in 2021, the president biden state department said, quote, we're going to be working in partnership with the number of u.n. and the palestinian authority to kind of channel aid in a manner that does its best to go to the people of gaza. quote. don't do your best. no dollars to terrorists. period. it went on to say, quote, as we've seen in life, as we all know in life there are no guarantees. we're going to do everything we can to make sure this assistance reaches the people who need it the most. unquote.

zero dollars. don't do your best. no dollars. the biden administration thinks the resources going there is okay because, quote, in life there are no guarantees, unquote. i completely reject that. i will not leave anything to chance when it comes to preventing u.s. taxpayer money from being sent to the brutals terrorists that slaughtered so many americans, american citizens. that's why i wasn't surprised in august 2021 when the senate vote the 99-0 to an amendment to the budget bill that would have made my amendment the law of the land. the democrats only voted for it because they knew in the final text of the bill written by democrats, my language would be mysteriously missing. they only voted for it because they knew it didn't matter.

i've tried twice more since then to pass legislation in the senate and the democrats have blocked it twice. why would a democrat want money to go to hamas? i don't get it. i know the left has a big problem on its hands as so many democrats rallied for hamas and against israel in the streets of liberal citiesant on the campuses of america's universities. you would think the democrats would be eager to show that they don't support hamas. instead they blocked my bill proving there is no interest in the democrat party to stand up to these people who absolutely hate israel and hate jews. that's why i asked earlier today to make my amendment to add to my stop taxpayer funding hamas act to this bill. it's common sense. democrats blocked even, voted on this today.

just a vote. i've listened to my colleagues talk about how we need a cease-fire and how we need to make sure the children in gaza get support. if you want any to go to the children in gaza, you would want to make sure it doesn't go to hamas and you would expect this administration to do everything they could to make sure money doesn't go to hamas. as you've heard, they're going to work at it. but they're going to work in partnership with the palestinian authority. what do you think the chance is that's going to work out very well? they have also tried twice to pass the stand alone israel aid bill but democrats blocked that toochlt each and every democrat voted against aid to israel. so don't tell me or my colleagues ws bill that we don't stand with israel when democrats twice blocked our bill and then all voted against it, which has already passed in

the house to at least send money to israel. if they had not voted against it, it could have gone to biden weeks ago and israel could have gotten more aid. madam president, let me be clear on one more thing. since the day that vladimir putin launched russia's unlawful invasion in ukraine i stood strongly on the side of the ukranian people but there are numerous unanswered questions. we don't know what happened to the hundred billion dollars of aid that has already gone to ukraine. we have no idea what our plan is. what's our plan to win? why would we pay the salaries of ukraine politicians with borrowed money? will biden give ukraine the weapons they need to actually win? if so, why didn't he do it in the beginning? when ukraine could have absolutely destroyed the russian

military. they were all sitting ducks along the highway. why didn't biden give them the weapons to absolutely destroy the russian military? why not? why can't congress pay for this with savings in other areas? and the most important one is why is the ukraine border more important than the u.s. border? why is this bill being rushed through with no support for securing our southern border? ukraine must win, russia must lose. there is no question that is what is in the best interest of america's national security and it's why i have said that we should continue to provide lethal aid, lethal aid to ukraine, paid for with seized russian assets. so ukraine can win its war and have a clear plan for how ukraine will win. we need to answer these questions and be strinl about how we -- strategic about how we

protect our interests especially as we add to america's $34 trillion worth of debt soon to hit $35 trillion. the american people will no longer tolerate borrowing billions of dollars to pay the government expenses and salaries of ukranian politicians. we are borrowing money to pay for the ukranian politicians. it's not a loan. it's just a gift. nor will u.s. voters tolerate this government having no plan for how ukraine will win, how u.s. resources will help it win and how we're making sure every dollar is being spent with one mission in mind. defeating russia. and concern grows when we see ukraine fired another top military official and seems to be struggling to show a clear path to victory. without more information we are left to assume the worst that this entire bill has no clear mission but to accomplish the appearance of unity so that american politicians can fly

over with a giant check and deliver hollow speeches about moral righteousness. it doesn't soothe our concerns when we hear the majority whip say on this floor that we must pass this now so that he can go to munich this week and pontificate about a bill that the speaker of the house has repeatedly stated that will never become law. let me just read what the speaker said today. house republicans were crystal clear from the very beginning of the discussion that any so-called national security supplemental legislation must recognize that national security begins at our own border. the house acted ten months ago to help enact transformative policy change by passing the secure our border act and since then, including today, the senate has failed to meet the moment. the senate did the right thing last week by rejecting the ukraine, taiwan, gaza, israel immigration legislation due to

its insufficient border provisions. and should have gone back to the drawing board to amend the current bill to include real border security provisions that help end the ongoing catastrophe. instead the senate's foreign aid bill is silent on the most pressing issue facing our country, mandate of social security. supplemental legislation was to secure america's own border before sending additional foreign aid around the world. it's what the american people demand and deserve. now in the absence of having received any single border policy change from the senate, the house will have to continue to work on its own will on these important matters. americans deserve better than the senate's status quo. so what we're going to do, this bill is going to be rushed through with no amendment. there will not be an amendment on this bill. so a bill that was negotiated in the dark by a few people,

changed, only a few people know that. it's now going to pass, and the speaker of the house has repeatedly stated it's never going to become law. this bill accomplishes nothing. if my colleagues were serious about aiding ukraine in the war against russia's invasion they would work with us in good faith, sit down with the speaker of the house and house the leader and produce a bill that can pass here and in the house. i want ukraine to win and i want russia to lose. but that does not mean i am or willing to selma any offer -- willing to accept any offer savings and loan down by the democrats. all while america is being invaded as a result of our open border. so if you're a general and your left flank is being invaded and you do nothing to shore that up, you get fired and you lose the

battle. we are being invaded. i will not accept anything that ignores the most urgent threat to u.s. national security. joe biden's wide open southern border. this should not need to be said on the floor of the united states senate but securing america's border is more important than securing the border of any other country. we represent america. we should be able to do both. frankly, the fact that we aren't using revenue generated from seized russian assets to pay for ukraine aid is ridiculous. but that's how things work here. your federal government cannot continue to stroke massive checks to borrow more money while providing zero accountability to the american people. the people of florida are sick of this. i'm sick of it. i think about all americans are sick of this. the deal has always been ukraine

aid for border security. not immigration policy, but real border security today. florida families are feeling the impact of this administration's lawless border policies each and every day. as deadly fentanyl, criminals, terrorists, human traffickers pour across biden's open border. in 2021 how many children, 1 through 18-year olds died of fentanyl? over 1,000. that's a classroom of students dying each and every week. in 2022 i heard from a mom in kissimmee, florida, whose son was in the air force. he came home to surprise her on mother's day weekend. he visited a friend who began dealing drug. the friend convinced him to take

a xanax unknowingly laced with fentanyl and the mom found her son dead. can you imagine? it's heartbreaking there are more stories like this all over the country. i don't understand why joe biden doesn't care. over is00,000 americans -- is00,000 americans died from drug offenders in 2021 -- drug overdoses in 2021. families in florida and every state across the nation are being torn apart by these drugs coming across the border. think about how many families are being torn apart as a result of this open border. my democratic colleagues seem to finally be acknowledging this crisis on tv but they're not willing to stand up to this president and force him to do what we all know is right. secure the border today. i can't imagine why. it's obvious to everyone that the invasion of our southern border is what biden wants. let's look at the numbers. joe biden was inaugurated on

january 20, 2021, inherited the most secure u.s. border in modern history. some of the his first acts as president, he used his executive power to dismantles powers president trump used to secure the border and sent a clear message to the cartels. the border is now wide open for smuggling, and president biden is not going to do anything to stop it. the surge of illegal immigration started almost immediately. in february 2021, there was more than 101,000 encounters of illegal aliens between ports of entry. that was a massive increase of what we saw the prior month. from there the thumbs continued to skyrocket. march 21 saw 123,000 illegal encounters, by july 2021, encounters with illegal aliens skyrocketed more than 213,000.

as more than 213,000 people attempted to illegally enter the united states in one month. i point this out to make something very clear. the border was secure and then joe biden took office and the cartels got their message loud and clear. the invasion hasn't stopped since. in fiscal year 2022, the first full fiscal year under the biden administration, there were more than 2.3 million encounters with illegal encounters in port of entry. they are mostly single adults of the 2.3 million encounters of illegal aliens, more than 1.6 million were single adults, most of whom are military-aged men, that's 70% of all people trying to illegally enter the united states. even more terrifying, 98% of the people who are trying to

illegally enter into the country in 2022 were on the terror watch list. here's another terrible stat for you from that period. cbc received 14,000 pounds of fentanyl, they received more than 14,000 pounds, that's enough fentanyl to kill three billion people. this is how much fentanyl has been crossed -- think about how much fentanyl has crossed the border without being seized. in fiscal year 2023, things got worse and we saw more than 2.4 m 2.4 million encounters with illegal aliens between ports of entry. they are not families searching for a better life. they're single adults, of those 2.4 m 2.4 million encounters, 60% were single adults, most of whom are military aged men.

169 pandemic on -- people on the terrorist watch list tried to sneak into our country in 2023. last fiscal year, cpc seized enough fentanyl to kill six billion people. last december, two months ago, more than 300,000 aliens were trying to illegally enter the united states. this is an invasion, and a clear and present danger to the safety of every american. even al sharpton called it an invasion on his msnbc show last week, but senate democrats and joe biden still won't do what is needed to fix it. biden's open door policy is a clear and present danger to every american family. i've gone to the border quite a bit. you go down there, after

president biden took over, i went down there, and you saw the wall being wilt and then -- bu built, and then they didn't finish the gates. still just laying there, people pour across, i saw one place where people would just able to -- they could fly into mexico, they took a flight, took a bus up to the border and walked across the border, cbp, picked them up and within days they were anywhere they wanted to be in the united states. then we found that -- that they could get on a flight right after they were rae leased after -- rae leased without an i.d. on our side there's no i.d.'s. on our side they don't have an i.d., they can go on a commercial flight with you. the biden administration says they don't have to have an i.d. they can say they don't want their picture taken, but you try

that. the americans can't do that. you wouldn't get on the flight. this is reality that joe biden refuses to go see. i want to mention one more thing i talked about earlier again because this needs to be driven home. my democratic colleagues want to act like any criticism of the biden administration is republican attacks, but here's what the fbi director told me, in a hearing in theland security an govl -- in the homeland security committee hearing, i questioned christopher wray about joe biden's open border. in his response to me, he said, quote, we went through a period where the structured foreign terrorist threat and the u.s. -- because of this isis inspired attack, what has increased is the greater possibility of one of these foreign terrorist organizations directing an attack in the united states.

unquote. he went on to say, quote, it is time to be concerned we are in a dangerous period, end of the quote. he also said that since joe biden took office, quote, the terror threats have elevated. those are the words of fbi director christopher wray. how can anyone ignore what he said? at one point -- when are my colleagues on the left going to be serious about this? i think the answer is unfortunately never. the so-called border bill wasn't an attempted to do anything on the border. they totally abandoned the idea of border security and moved to the bill before us today which will never pass in the house, will never become law, and does nothing on the border. let's remember what speaker johnson says. house republicans were crystal clear from -- from the very beginning of the discussions

that any so-called national security supplemental legislation must recognize that national security begins at our own border. it will not pass the house. the people of florida refuse to ignore these threats, threats that are a cheer and present danger to the united states. we will not take care of the border in ukraine without taking care of the border right here in the united states. madam president, i want to get something done and i will always believe in the ability of our nation to answer the call and defend freedom and democracy where ever it is threaten by tyranny. i care about protecting the national security of the united states. it's personal to me. at 18 years old i enlested in the navy to defend my country. my father was one of the sold -- soldiers who fought in the battle of the bulge. i know there's evil in the world

and america must be the leader of the free world, but we have to take care of the families who we represent first, we have to secure our border. this bill does not secure our border and has too many failures to say it will do what is needed to protect america and our interest. the bill allows to send billions to gaza which will go to terrorists and billions to ukrainian politicians, no bill is perfect, but this bill -- this bill is a horrible attempt to basically spend american dollars with no accountability and to do nothing to secure the american border. thank you, madam president.

mr. schmitt: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mr. schmitt: thank you, madam president. i rise to talk about a very ill-advised plan that we have before us right now that puts ukraine first and america last. now, for the, i'm going to say for the 25 people in the country that may have tuned into the last time i was on this floor earlier today to now, you might notice one big difference, i have a different tie on. so in between the last time

and,000 -- and now, i worked out. as you know, madam president, you can't skip leg day, so i did that. in preparation, of course, for the congressional baseball game which is a few months away. i figured while i was going to do that, i had a little time, a lot of energy, i have one hour to give to this that i would switch ties. so breaking news. i will say though that standing here in a very sort of contrived effort that the majority leader has put forth -- well, i guess i should say he's not making any effort to make this look like an activity of the world's most deliberative body.

there are no amendments being considered for a 95, you know, billion dollar foreign aid package. it is being rushed to get done just before guess who gets to go to munich. chuck schumer. so we want to get this done without any amendments so that the majority leader can glad hand with other global leaders and talk about how he's delivering for ukraine all the while the people that we represent are clamoring for action for something to secure our southern border. and i though the figure leaf that was -- the fig leaf that was offered last week that lasted about 24 hours before people picked apart the language

to realize it was taking us back on immigration law, that was nothing more than to get more votes for ukraine. if you want to understand why there is so much did hes function about -- dysfunction about this process, all you have to know is that the ukraine piece has been the center of gravity, israel aid is held hostage to it, this four-month exercise to get, you know, some language that was rejected was about getting more support for ukraine. so here we are. a mere, i guess, hours away from a vote that some of my colleagues have told me this is going to be the most important vote i'll ever cast. i -- i cannot help but think, as someone who has run statewide in

missouri three times in six years, what an utter disconnect, what we're doing right now to where real america is. when i am back in missouri, and i go back and forth every week, i live in the st. louis area, what people want to talk to me about is what's going on in their family, the fact that when they go to the grocery store every week, they're hit with that sticker shock that's never really gone away. for a younger person that's trying to buy their first house, it's literally twice as expensive as it was just, you know, a few years ago. we've got nine million people who have come across the southern border, we don't know who they are, we don't know

where they're at. some of the most strenuous objections that we have are from immigrants who have come here legally who have waited in line, who did the right thicks -- the right things. the people who don't understand why our energy policy punishes working families who just want affordable, reliable energy who are lectured by elites like john kerry who fly on private jets to davos and then tell working families all the things that they should hif without. -- live without. that's what they care about. now, as the united states -- as a united states senator, i don't believe we shouldn't have a debate about ukraine, but i can honestly say there's not been a person that has come up to me and said, you know what, eric, what i really want you to do up

there is send another $61 billion to ukraine. that's what i really want you to do. my priority is for you to go up there and do that when our border is not secure, when terrorists are streaming across the border, when fentanyl is streaming across the border, when women and children are being raped and trafficked to the tune of $100 million a week. that's the economic value of the human trafficking alone. the cartels have never had it so good. american families are struggling, but the cartels have become wealthy beyond belief, because of policies from this administration that have devastated our border, devastated our immigration laws, flooded our streets with drugs

and crime, and perhaps there could be no more emblematic image of all of this than what we saw just last week with a couple of people who came here illegally, beat up some cops, got out of jail in a matter of hours, and did the double bird to the camera,li telling the american people exactly what they thought of them. i mean, i really can't -- i can't think of a better symbol of what this administration has wrought on the american people than that. there will be all kinds of d disingenuous stuff to shift blame, but people are smart. they know exactly what's happ happening. and i do come from missouri, and before i was attorney general i served in the state senate.

like in most states, there actually, for all the issues every state has in working through things, our constitutional republic and our democracy can be a messy thing, it's supposed to be that way. it's supposed to be difficult to get things done, because our founders believed one of the ways you protect individual liberties is spread out that power so it's not efficiently taking money from people and efficiently taking away their god-given rights. in missouri the one thing they have to do is pass a budget. the only thing they're constitutionally required to do. and there's a date. i think it's may 15. so they got to do that. so the house, there's a consensus revenue estimate that comes out in december, where they -- i'm sure this is true in

california and other states, where they kind of decide the different parties and branches decide what they think they're going to take in, how much they have to spend, then they craft a budget. that process begins in dec decemberish, they come in in january, and the hearings begin in full force and people come, and they advocate and make their argu arguments, subcommittees report to committees, committees then report bills out, it goes to the house floor, all the while the senate is having their own hearings anticipating house bills, because it has to originate in the house. it comes over, they work on that, then they have something, they report to the senate, then they go to a conference committee. guess what -- they craft a budget. you disagree with it, it might be too much spending, might be not enough for your taste, it may not have done all of the things you wantedit to do, but

there is a product people can have input on, amend things. we don't do that here. i talked about it earlier. we don't do it. it's a travesty for this constitutional republic, because the very frustration you see in this instance, in c.r. debates, or the deadline politics, is all because there are no vehicles, no way for people to advocate for the people they replete -- for the people they represent. we go to lunches. nobody told me about that, wby the way, that we have lunch together. i love getting to know my republican colleagues. i'm sure the democrats feel the same. what if actually what we've seen here in the last couple of days, where senators come out here and talk about the things they believe in, and there's more than just a couple people at a time, what if we did that all the time? maybe i'm just the new guy. but what if we did that?

and the senator from california and the senator from missouri, we would offer amendments. you know what we might find out? that there's some things we could work on together, or some things we're going to be on a different team. guess what happened, there's a few people in charge that keep us very separated. they keep us in those lunches and we spin around, and a couple people negotiate a bill. we don't know the details. we're told you can't offer amendments. we're told that the tree is filled. what if 95 of us said we're done

with that? we're done with it. instead of this thunderdome you've created for this limited condition tact -- limited contact, we're going to disburse the power to individual members, like it was supposed to be. like when this place was created. the senate, the united states senate is a unique institution in human history. there's never been anything like it. it was conceived of an idea that we had three branches, that within the bicameral article 1 branch there was going to be one branch that had six-year terms and they were staggered, you had to be a little older to serve. i don't know if they ever thought that the median age would be 68. but it is, i think, something

like that. whatever. i digress. but no matter, we're supposed to sort of deliberate on these things, and that it would take a little bit more than just a simple majority. in fact, we didn't have cloture being filed like for everything, like for some appointment to the zoo commission, that there was a little bit of a social contract that happened in this place. i know this is really process oriented and i'm going to get to other stuff, you about i do think it's important -- but i do think it's important. because i actually believe that what a couple people in this place, including the majority leader, are really afraid of is that what if we actually get a taste for what it's like to have an impact on our own?

what if we figure out we don't need them to tell us what to do? i don't need that. i don't need somebody telling me how to vote. i would think that the 100 of us who campaigned so hard, got around our states and listened to people, i don't need that. i'm open to advice, always. i don't think i have everything figured out. but i also think that in talking to people -- and listen, i don't pretend to know everything. i think you have to approach this praise with some amount of humility. i mean, talk about an honor of a lifetime, but in a hundred years -- i was the 2,000th senator. i'm not sure many people in a

hundred years will know that. maybe my grandkids. i hope my kids would tell my grandkids that, but i don't know. the point is our lives are very finite, the roles we play here are very serious and important, but i just think this place can be so much more than what it is, and it's this kind of hollowed-out shell of what was supposed to be the greatest legislative body ever conceived. we don't do those things. i lament that. i was trying to say i talk to plenty of people, i try to meet, and i'm going to meet, with every senator, republican or democrat individually. it takes a little while with our schedules. we're not on the floor very much

voting, but we're all very busy. i've just found there's really some unique conversations that you can have with people about not only what's important to them and how you can work together, but a desire to sort of open this place up a little bit. and i think what we're seeing play out here is kind of emblematic of it. regardless of how you feel about this particular issue, regardless of how you feel about this is the most important vote you'll ever cast or i can't believe that we're sending 61 billion but we won't secure our own southern border, regardless where you fall on that continuum or spectrum, i would hope that we can recognize, individually and collectively, that this is broken. look what's happening with the appropriations process. i don't know what's going to happen in a few weeks. we're going to presumably vote

on this stuff, come back, then guess what, we've got another deadline. and if you don't support this bill, you want to shut the government down. meanwhile, the majority leader in this place has spent eight hours in 13 months on appropriations bills. something tells me, i don't know, i'm a lawyer, i'm not a detective, that there's a reason for that. there might be a reason why he doesn't want those on the floor, he doesn't want an open discussion, and he's not alone. there is a very natural sense to try to -- desire to sort of aggregate power. but we've had the appropriations committee voted out every bill. but eric, they originate in the

house. well, we have a number of vehicles. not to mention we could just send a message about what our priorities are in the senate, whether i agree with them or not, on senate bills. i guess it's too hard, but i don't think that's really the reason. and i've heard, well, you know, senators they come to us and don't want to take tough votes, we're protecting them. i don't believe that. i don't believe that. i think it's because this is the -- who could have imagined the power that somebody could have to unveil an omnibus before us, the flashing lights? wait till i unveil this before you all. you won't have time to read it, you can't amend it, can't really affect it, but the lobbyists in

town know who to go to. and i just believe that that is the source of some of the disconnect. i think there's a real danger in being insulated in this town, there this bubble here. you know, caring too much about what "the new york times" or "the washington post" has to say about you, that somewhere along the way, i don't care where you're from, whether you're in a deep blue state or deep red state, you lose a little bit of what people actually at home are connected to, what they care about. and this bill here couldn't be more disconnected from american prio priorities. this bill sends $95 billion to

foreign countries. debate the merits of that as you will. without actually -- think of the message that sends. we care so much -- think about the issues that we're confronting as a country, all of them. this is what we're doing. this is what we've chosen, and i don't care -- like i said, i feel good from the workout. i don't care that i have to come out here for my time, you know. doesn't bother me. i wish i had more time. but this is how we're pressing people -- we've got to get this done. now, i know on the back end of this is a trip to munich. i'm not going. i kind of wish i was.

i'd love to have some conversations with some of the folks who don't understand, who maybe want to look at people like me as like a zoo animal. don't you understand? i do understand. by the way, if it was such an existential threat, where is your -- where has your countries been? why aren't you at 2%? of your gdp. i mean, i had a conversation with some high-level government officials in a european country. they're pulling back from that number because they have to address the flooding that happened in their country this year. imagine that, putting the interests of their own country ahead of spending money on a foreign war. i am a little surprised, though, by the group-think that sort of

embodies anybody that raises legitimate issues or questions as being referred to as some sort of, like, putin lover. to me, that is a very soft defense that reveals deficiencies in an argument. i think we can have a reasonable conversation, like what -- to what end, what are we seeking to gain? how much will it cost us? can we be effective? can there be accountability? all those amendments are blocked. all those conversations are blocked. i think that the american people would be shocked to know the amount of time and energy we spend just on this issue. i know it's important to people, but i have been in my first 1313 137b9ss is -- 13 monthsality the amount of time -- 13 months at the amount of time that is spent on this one thing, not on the

border, not on the energy policy, not on the government's willingness to suppress free speech, not on the fact that we are simply not turning our atension quickly enough to china. i mean, pick it -- mr. president, you might have ten things. i might

. in the mornings, just speak glowingly about this, how important it is. yet he often also, interestingly, casts half of the country, half of americans often, in the light of radical extremist maga republicans. othering half of his countrymen. and you a want to understand why people are skeptical of this kind of politics. the deplorables. i actually think there ought to be a drinking game in

washington. every time chuck schumer says extremists or maga or republican, everybody in this town ought to take a drink. this town will be drunk by 10:00 a.m. it's insane. it's not helpful. and for somebody who, by the way, talks about the importance of bipartisanship, let me offer this as a refresher. chuck schumer, if he had it his way and he had two more votes, would end the filibuster. he would pack the supreme court. it would add states to the union. and he would federalize our elections. i'm not buying it. and so he's ramrodding this thing through without any amendments. that's not what our republic is supposed to be. it's not what the senate is supposed to be. so there's a lot of problems

with this bill, but i want to point out -- you know a lot has been said about, well, you talk about border, but you had your shot. you got everything you wanted. not what ail wanted. -- not what i wanted. and my republican colleagues who have been at this can testify you understand oath about what ail said all along. i don't believe that this administration is interested in securing our border at all. and i speak with some experience on this because i was attorney general of the state that sued the administration on a few different measures and had to go back in court to get them to abide by court orders. it's not in their dna. so we're getting exactly what this administration wants, and no language change is going to

change that. so let's just be honest. now, i think that they might see how far gone this has gotten, like many socialist enterprises, arguably well-meaning people realize they have created a total disaster and that's what we have now. that's what we have at our southern border because the open borders crowd is in charge. so to my democratic colleagues, you have opened up a pandora's box and the fake -- the ultimate head fake here about having some, you know, border bill that made things worse isn't going to cut it. nobody is buying it. just like nobody is buying that bidenomics is great. tell that to the single mom that's paying 40% more at the

grocery store every week. so, for me, i just want the biden administration to enforce our existing laws and go back to the policies that were working under president trump. i didn't want some, you know, 400-page bill that did a couple of things that i sincerely objected to. the first of which was to empower these asylum officers to effectively grant citizenship at the border. to grant asylum at the border. five years later they're citizens. outside of the judicial process and at a hurried clip we've never seen before. that's what would have happened. and by the way work permits that were immediate. you talk about a magnet for the cartels, that's exactly what that would have created.

the second big objection was, how in the world could you possibly cut out courts of jurisdiction that have traditionally handled immigration matters forever? like in texas. where do they go? to some other border jurisdiction? no. legal challenges went to the d.c. circuit court of appeals. perhaps the most liberal circuit in the whole country. i'm sure that was junst a coincidence. -- that was just a coincidence. so there are real problems, and in my view took us backwards with. i'm not disparaging any individual about it, but as a senator, you have the right to analyze the text, which by the way was withheld from everyone. until sunday night at 7:00, with

chuck schumer saying, get ready to vote on wednesday a -- wednesday. i don't know, i guess, mr. president, i haven't been here long enough to think that's okay, regardless of how you feel about it. no state does that. so how did we get to where we're at? ladies and gentlemen, this was on day one an effort by this administration to undo everything that was effective under president trump. we had gotten to the lowest level of illegal immigration we

had seen in a generation, in 40 years in december of 2020. i spoke yesterday and used the analogy like in the head of the super bowl and the chiefs won, thank goodness. but it would be like having the best defense in the history of the nfl one year and then there's a new coach who didn't like the old coach and said, i got on idea. we're going to play without a defense next year. because trump. totally insane. results totally predictable. although i'm not sure anybody could have fully imagined nine

million people here illegally. but that's where we're at. and so from day one, joe biden was determined to undo all of the things that president trump had done. now, there's a couple of reasons for it t one could be total and utter incompetence. i don't know. the president can't remember when he was vice president. maybe that's it. another reason could be just this reflectionive desire -- reflexive desire to undo everything that trump did. that's possible. trump derangement syndrome is real. it's treatable. but it takes a lot of time to get over that. certainly not on day one. could be it. the other rationale could be,

the people that even just a decade earlier were on the fringes of the democrat party who at the time were in think tanks writing white papers about the benefits of open borders and how unfair it was that these arbitrary lines disconnect people or that everyone has a right to live wherever they want and they should receive government benefits no matter what, maybe those people graduated. maybe they didn't just grad wait from an identificy league institution from a gender study degree. maybe they graduated to the highest levels of government. maybe they occupy positions in

the oval office and have broken through. and if i don't run out of time, there's a very interesting article about this sort of behind-the-scenes debate happening in the biden administration. look, i'm -- i am standing in front of the desk of harry truman. harry truman was -- news flash -- a democrat. there is no way under god's green earth the party of harry truman would be okay with this. but a lot can happen between here and the wedding. so here we are. so, what happened? i don't know the motive. i could -- i can, you know, make

a guess. only god knows. but what i do know are the actions that took place. in the myriad of executive actions, reversals that have caused this historic crisis at our southern border. on january 20, 2021, you know, i, joe biden, gives the oath -- first thing. first day. terminates the national emergency at the southwestern border, halting the construction of the border wall. of course we need to do that, right? that was trump's idea. on january 20, 2021, joe biden reversed the trump-era executive

order and several proclamations that put restrictions on immigration from countries associated with terrorism. who thinks that's a good idea? in what world, what color is the sky in a world where we think that's a good idea? i guess because trump or your open borders or you're incompetent. on january 20, 2021, joe biden announced a 100 day moratorium on deportations and immigration enforcement. what? why?

why would we do that? forever, including administrations, democrat administrations i may have disagreed with on a bunch of policy positions, it's been the position of republican and democrat administrations that our immigration policy is that if you come here illegally, you are detained and you are deported unless there's some exception in the law like say asylum that's legit. nine out of ten are not legit. so what did he do? we're not doing that anymore. we thought a lot about this, america, and we actually think that we shouldn't deport anyone anymore. on january 20, 2021, joe biden revoked a trump era executive order that directed the federal government to employ all lawful

means to enforce the immigration laws of the united states. trump executive order 1376-8. let me repeat that. the position of the biden administration was to not enforce the immigration laws of the united states. i would love to hear one of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle try to defend that to their voters in a town hall or something. but because trump or because open borders or because incompetence. i don't know. and that was just the first day, so get ready.

on february 2, 2021, a couple of weeks later, they took a break. the biden administration after on day one undoing all the things that kind of work or some of the things, had a little meeting i guess and said we've got more to do. we can't just not enforce immigration laws and we can't just prevent people from terrorist countries coming here and we can't build a border wall. what else should we do? issue executive order that began processing asylum claims at the border. okay. here comes the fast pass. here comes the express lane. also in that same moventh february 2021, the biden administration stopped applying title 42 expulsions to children at the border.

title 42 was a very effective means of providing our border patrol agents of turning people around. that's gone. okay? still more to do. before president trump implemented title 42, migrants could cross illegally, ask for asylum and allowed to be in the united states and they will be processed. title 42 changed that, now we're back to the future. all of a sudden now what do we have? catch and release. february 17, the same month, we're not done yet, the 2021, the cdc exempted unaccompanied alien children from title 42. one of the more whittling away of the more effective means of

turning people away because to this administration, everyone deserves to be here. you don't have to wait in line. here are your government benefits. can we give you medicaid and medicare? how about food stamps? of course this is the humane thing to do, right, they would tell us. hold on. it ain't. on march 10, 2021, the biden administration announced the reinstatement of the central american miners program and expanded on it june 15, 2021. in april and again in october 2021, dhs canceled contracts to build a border wall. it was trump's wall. we have to end the border wall. what does that mean for taxpayers? i'll tell you what it means.

$140,000 a day, a day to contractors to not build the wall. think about that for a minute. materials have been bought. contractors are paid $140,000 a day to not build a wall. in a town that spends trillions, $140,000 a day, well, where i come from people still count their money. that's about three times the median family income in missouri for a year. so don't tell me it isn't anything. it's an insult to taxpayers who literally, my dad worked seven days a week on the midnight shichlt he got a -- midnight shift. he got a week off for vacation. all that money taken out by the

government that if he had more of it would have spent on us and our family. would tell taxpayers you're on the hook to pay contractors $140,000 a day is insulting. and, by the way, if that wasn't enough, they auctioned off the materials that were already bought that could have been built to have a wall and in one instance over $4 million worth of materials were auctioned off for just over $100,000. on october 29, 2021, the biden administration canceled the migrant protection protocols. what's that? that's remain in mexico. so when i was attorney general of missouri, we filed suit along

with texas because my contention was every state was a border state. this was a very, very effective way of processing but also sending a very important signal to people who wanted to come here illegally by way of the cartels. if you have any knowledge of what goes on at the southern border, the cartels are meeting these people as they traverse, threatening them, extorting them, sexually assaulting them, abusing them. it's a nasty business. so don't tell me that this is humane that aoc crying in front

of the cameras in 2019 was the, was what your focus was. nbc nightly news, if president trump were still in office and what was happening right now at the border, people are drowning and trafficked like they are, they would be camped out. they would be camped out at the southern border. but meanwhile joe biden and kamala harris can't be bothered to go down there. you know what i wish? i wish chuck schumer would cancel his trip to munich and go to the southern border. he won't do that. he's going to be a god over there. which is why we're in at 1:15 a.m. again, it doesn't bother me.

it doesn't bother me. so anyway with remain in mexico, we file a lawsuit. we win. they had done it the wrong way. rushed it through. in fact, it goes all the way to the supreme court and the supreme court says your preliminary and temporary injunction, it affect. we sent it to the lower court to keep this enforced and for trial on the merits. the biden administration totally ignored it. so when you ask me should we be negotiating with them about some new border provisions, i don't trust them. so don't tell me you got everything you wanted. it's not what i wanted. it's a bad bill as far as i'm concerned. but more importantly than that,

we're dealing with an administration that's not interested in forcing border laws, that lived it. eventually the temporary wins on title 42 remain in mexico went away. and the biden administration got their way. so we fought as long as we could, but ultimately under our immigration laws the president has immense discretion. and so that's why we have the problems that we have. so it was a very effective deterrent. having mexico essentially as the waiting room did a couple of things. it deterred the cartels but it also prevented the cash and release problem -- catch and release problem. it's hard to know because we're

not on this floor debating things together. as much as we have these conversations amongst one another and on the armed services committee we try to work well together in a bipartisan way. that committee actually functions and we have amendments and we had a bill that came on the floor, we disagree, it went to the house and we passed it. i'm grateful for my opportunity to serve on that committee. and we got a lot of issues we need to address as a country including china that has a bigger navy. not a better navy but a bigger navy than we have. one of the reasons why i like to see these things broken up is that we actually have real debate on these things individually, but that ship has sailed for now. my hope is that we win the war ultimately on that. that people see the wisdom in that. i'm going to keep fighting for that. i think it's the right thing to

do. i see the chair of the appropriations committee. i appreciate her work and the work of senator collins on the appropriations committee. i long for the david appropriations bills -- day when individual appropriations bills come out here. i hear tales of a senate of long ago like it's folklore, of a time where you could come out here and offer an amendment and have a vote and it was pending, and you'd figure it out. there would be some social pressure if senator lee or something had 80 amendments. maybe that, you know, people would say, senator lee, how about eight instead. he might agree with that. the point is we would figure it out. we don't have to have one person as the gatekeeper for everything. who comes from on high with

tablets carved in stone. that is not what this place is supposed to be. so remain in mexico, as much as i fought it personally as an attorney general, we had some temporary victories, went away. on september 9, 2022, the biden administration reversed the trump-era public charge rule. on december 13, 2023, the -- 2022 the biden administration sued arizona to force them to remove shipping containers to replace the gaps at the border wall. texas tried to do the same thing. so when you have a situation where the federal government who does a ton of things it's not supposed to do, one of the

things it's supposed to do is secure the southern border. but what happens when they don't do that? states like arizona and texas are going to say we have a population to protect. we have citizens who are at risk. we have fentanyl in our communities. we have high crime. we have human trafficking. the biden administration has shown their true colors. they will sue you. they will take you to court. concerned. if you do that, there will be hell to pay. meanwhile they don't do anything to stop it. and there's a lot more, and i could go on, but these are the results of joe biden's actions, not because of some deficiency in the law, there isn't. we could improve the law. i'm more than willing to have that kind of debate, but that's

not the bill that we had in front of us, it wasn't. and so it will be used as a way to sort of like act like republicans -- give me a break. no one in their right mind in this country believes that anybody other than joe biden is responsible for nine million people being here illegally, just like nobody believes in this country that our economy is in better shape for working people because of joe biden. it's very -- it's amazing how fast an hour can go. there's so much to talk about. but i do want to talk a little bit about before my time is up the foreign aid here. i just want to again point out the real disconnect that the people in this country, regardless of who they vote for in a presidential election or senate races feel with the -- the amount of

conversation we have here about foreign aid and borders of other countries and our unwillingness again to force the biden administration to secure our own. there are a lot of ideas to do that, none of them were given an opportunity to really have a full airing. and in many instances we're funding both sides of these things. we're about to send -- well, this chamber, it's not going to happen, by the way, because it's doa in the house, so like a bunch of hams ters here -- hamsters on a wheel, alienating members along the way who would like to work together, we're funding both sides of it because on one hand 61 billion could go to ukraine but we're helping russia by our ridiculous energy policy. joe biden's war on domestic energy production is real. the restrekss you --

restrictions on lng and the export are real. if your mission is to disempower russia and putin, you've essentially sided with climate alarmists instead. no country in the history of the world has done either one of these things. no country has ever willingly opened up their border to the level that we see right,000. and no -- right now. and no country has ever wil willingly creeded -- ceded sthar energy -- their energy, since the beginning of times, tribes and nations have gone to war for natural resources. conquest and war was predicated

on the idea of gaining more. we'll have everything we'll ever need right upped our feet of we don't need to go anywhere. we don't need to be an imperial nation. we've got it. but here's the problem. you can't check the box anymore if you're on the democrat side about being virtuous. it's insane. let's be all of the above, let's bedom thant, let's be independent, it's in our national security interest, let's send it to our friends and allies around the world. we're not doing that. we're on both sides of that equation and as it relates to israel, in my final couple of minutes here, i do want to say i had an amendment to pull israel out here, to have a separate vote on it, but they're being

held hostage to ukraine. cynical but it's true. i've been to israel. anyone who has understands the dangers, the proximity of the threats. all of us have had moving personal experiences there, including a mass i attended there and moving experience at the western wall with jewish friends and to think about what happened there on october 7 and to see -- and i -- you though, i don't think a lot of senators had reservations about the private viewing of that video, but i thought it was incumbent for me, and some of the things i saw in that private viewing for 55 minutes, you can never unsee. and so my contention and my argument here all along has been, i've never been in the

category of lumping this together like i've never been in the category of lumping all of the appropriations bills together in an omnibus or but if we plan better or make some reforms, i would hope we could do them individually regardless of how it plays out or who wins. i think that's important. but in that same bill helping -- helping the -- the people who support terrorism in gaza isn't solving any problems of we can't have it both ways here. the pay for slave program by the palestinian authority is real. they use government money to pay terrorists' families for killing jews and christians. and the pivot by the biden

administration now for political reasons away from israel is not unthisesed -- unnoticed. but that's where we're at. so, mr. president, i would just say that the idea that we would be moving a bill that has america last, for all this debate over four months, more than that, quite frankly, for a year because it was involved this the c.r. debates. for all that debate we've had, this chamber is about ready to pass a bill that sends billions and billions and billions and billions and billions and billions of dollars to ukraine to secure their border but does nothing to secure america's border. and the working folks back home

that feel left behind by this town and their ridiculous priorities and being $34 trillion in debt and shipping jobs overseas, they see it. it's a total disconnect, and i for one am going to stand with them. i'm going to stand with those people, my people, the folks back home and against permanent washington that come hell or high water want to send a disconnected package with billions to ukraine and nothing -- nothing for the american people. and with that, mr. president, i yield.

a senator: the senator from wisconsin is recognized. mr. johnson: let me first say how bad i feel for the senate floor here. it didn't have to be this way. senator schumer could have send us home and get a good night's rest and come back and continue this debate. unfortunately senate leadership is so hell bent to provide tuck for ukraine, they couldn't wait. they had to -- the working --

work you folks through the night and i feel bad for you. you'll notice i have a chart here, it's the one i really started producing back in about 2013, 2014 on the problems we're having at our border. i wish that was the pry hairy debate we were having right now is what do we need to do to secure our border? what should the united states senate, what should congress, what should this administration be doing to keep americans safe? 000, unfortunately, and i will get into -- now, unfortunately, and i will get into that in greater detail, this was pretty much taken off the table not because republicans were reluctant to join part in a bipartisan immigration bill. we never asked for that. but what we asked for is as long

as the administration had a high priority of supplying another 60-plus billion to ukraine to help ukraine cure its border, we thought maybe, just maybe, we could use that as leverage to force this administration to secure our border. now, it's important to recognize that president biden has probably all the authority he needs to secure the border. why do i say that? well, president trump, when faced with his crisis, which never ever hit 5,000 people a day. you can see how sharp that peak was and how quickly it dropped. but president trump used what executive authority he had, authority that the supreme court

wrote in section 212-f of the immigration and nationality act ex useds deference to -- ex useds deference to every clause, it entrusts the president of whether and when to suspend entry when he finds that the entry of aliens would be democratal to the national -- detrimental interest, all aliens or any class of aliens for how long, for such period as he shall deem necessary, and what conditions. any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate. the supreme court goes on to say it is therefore up surprising we have previously observed that 212-f vests the president with ample power to impose any

restrictions in addition to those elsewhere enumerated in the ina. now, it's true that president trump in securing that border met with a great deal of resistance. the radical open border crowd challenged virtually every action he wanted to take in court. but he eventually overcame all of those. i will go through history, and i will come back in greater detail. president trump used the existing authority and sheer will power, a little arm twisting for the -- for the president of mexico from peak to trough, 5,000 people a day for only one month. within 12 months brought it down to 1200 a day.

this was right at the beginning of covid, and then title 42 kicked in and dropped it from about 1200 day to a low of 570. that's what president trump was able to do to use his existing authority. what happened after that? well, the presidential debate started heating up, and every democrat candidate for president on the debate stage said we were going to end deportations and offer immigrants free health care. yet, all these big city mayors declaring their cities sanctuary cities, come one, come all, we'll protect you from federal agents. so guess what. they started to come. unfortunately, president biden won the presidency and he made

good on that promise. this marks president biden's inauguration and the explosion of illegal immigration into america. it's hard to get the exact figures, because this president's department of homeland security is not exactly what you'd call transparent. they don't give up the numbers the american people deserve to know very easily. so we have to kind of cobble these together from different sources. i think it's pretty obvious looking at the numbers that about six million people, since the start of the biden administration, have emptied this country illegally in a state. we really do not know who these people are. who we definitely don't know who

these people are are the close to two million gotaways, known and unknown. by the way, the known gotaway, that's kind of a misnomer. we have no idea who these people are. we just detected them coming across the border. again, about six million people total. 31 states have a population less than six million people. my state, wisconsin, is on the bubble. we have about 5.8, 5.9 people. that's the order of magnitude of the migrant flow that president biden, using the same executive in order that president trump used to secure the border, he used that exact same authority to open it wide open. and put our nation at risk. when you listen to fbi director wray and other law enforcement

officials talk about the current threat level, director way in testimony in front of the house and senate said all the warning signs are flashing. the threat of foreign terrorist organizations has not been higher since 9/11. gee, i wonder how a foreign terrorist fighter could enter this country. is president biden's softness on iran the coddling of the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism? is it any way tied to what intelligence he might have of sleeper cells? ready to be triggered if president biden's response to their sponsor of terrorism is too hard? it's just a question, but i think a pretty legitimate

question. so president biden opens up the border, he exposes america to these threats, a clear and present danger. he did it, and members of the administration carry on the drumbeat of president trump's security border, it was so inh inhumane, it was so inhumane to enforce the law, it was so inhumane to stop or certainly slow, dramatically slow, the trafficking of humans, the sex trafficking, the drug traff trafficking. the fact is this explosion of illegal immigration, president biden and his democrat colleagues here in congress, who also wanted an open border, who also caused this problem, their open border policy is facilitating the multibillion-dollar business plan, business model of some of

the most evil people on the planet, the drug traffickers. over 100,000 overdoses, primarily fentanyl. the human traffickers, the sex traffickers. how do you think these young women pay off their seven to 10 to 15,000 human trafficking fee? they involuntarily get put into the sex trafficking business. there's nothing humane about president biden and the democrat and congress' open border policy. it is grotesquely inhumane. i mentioned drug trafficking. a few years ago, certainly in wisconsin, i think all over the nation, a big problem was methamphetamine labs. dangerous labs, but sprinkling

all over, little towns, big towns, all over the country. that's not a problem for law enforcement anymore, because as president biden and his democratic colleagues in congress, their open border policy, now methamphetamine is so cheap, coming into the southern border, those meth labs have been put out of business. i recently sat down with the sheriffs in win payingo and -- in winnebago county, talking about the explosion of the drug trafficking in the biden administration years. they described how prior to that, the hub, there was a hub, of drug trafficking in chicago and the branches split out into wisconsin. now what's happened, the drug trade is flourishing to such a degree, now wisconsin has hubs, with branches springing out from those hubs as well.

again, i mentioned all the o overdose deaths, the tragedies facilitated by the open border policy. this chart is historical up to this point. this is a line from december of last year, when in one day we experienced 14,509 migrants flooding our border. it averaged over 10,000 people a day. since the start of the biden administration, on average, the average has been over 7,000 illegal immigrants per day, every day, since president biden entered office. i remember during trump's crisis

there would be reports of these huge caravans of a couple thousand people. that used to be big news when president trump was president. a couple thousand in a massive caravan. now 7,000 a day barely is ever reported on. in fact, the only reason the current crisis is being reported on, the only reason president biden and his democratic colleagues in congress, their open border is getting the light shined on it now is because you have mayors like mayor adams in new york and mayor johnson in chicago, sanctuary cities, proud to be a sanctuary city, come one, come out. all of a sudden, it's not a very good idea. mayor adams dealing with less than 2%, about 100, 110,000 of

the six million people, less than 2% of those illegal immigrants let in by joe biden and his democratic colleagues here in congress is going to destroy new york city. mayor johnson has similar comments in chicago. so the media is forced to report that. they don't want to. they'd like to keep covering up for the president, but the conditions have gotten so bad that even the mainstream media, the liberal, the biased, the cover-uppers for president biden, have to report on this. and so now more americans are awakened to this clear and present danger. so when president biden proposed his security supplemental, funds

for ukraine, for taiwan, for is israel, for the border, i believe his initial proposal for the border was about $14 billion. not to secure it, to hire more agents to more efficiently and more effectively encounter, process, and disburse. that's been their solution to the problem. that's why secretary mayorkas says we don't have a problem. we have the border under control. because they tell cbp their goal is to encounter, process, and disburse within an eight hour period. they've gotten very efficient at it. that's not a solution. so when president biden proposed this supplemental, a lot of americans started making the

point that before we send tens of billions of dollars overseas, as sympathetic as you are or may be with those countries receiving those funds, and i have a great deal of sympathy, but before we start sending all those tens of billions of dollars to help other countries secure their borders, maybe, just maybe the right thing to do would be secure our own border first, to eliminate that clear and present danger, to reduce the multibillion-dollar business model of the human, sex, and drug traffickers. maybe we ought to do that first. maybe we ought to look at americans and go we want to keep

our own citizens safe and secure. we don't want an underground economy. we don't want illegal immigrants being abused and taken advantage of by unscrupulous employers and to press american wages. let's secure our own border first. and so republicans in congress, our reaction was, well, we don't know how to force this president to use executive authority to secure the border. maybe we ought to use that as leverage. so that's what we asked of our leadership. now, our leader certainly wants to secure ukraine's border. it's one of his top priorities. it took him a while to understand that the american people really do want a secure border, and maybe he ought to take that into consideration.

so he recommended to the conference, i was a little surprised at this because it's a definite change in his position, recommended, okay, we need to defeat cloture on this supplemental to show the president that we're serious about securing the border. i had my doubts as to his -- how genuine that move really was. i really had my doubts when all of a sudden we started negotiating, entering into secret negotiations with the administration and democrats here in congress, who again by and large want an open border, who caused this problem. that's a real impediment to negotiation. i've done a lot of negotiating in my business career, and the only -- you only want to negotiate with people in good faith and only when you agree on

the goal. the problem in secret negotiations with people that want an open border that caused the problem is you have to recognize they're really not looking to close the border. that's not what they want. what they want is political cover. they were negotiating for political cover, and whether our leader realized it or not, that's what he apparently gave them. now again, i don't fault senator lankford. i think he's certainly knowledgeable about this. he was on my committee, we held more than 30 hearings on this. we made multiple trips. he's knowledge eyeballing. he gets a -- he's knowledgeable. he gets well with the other side. he negotiated the preventing government shutdown with senator hassan. he's not a bad guy to ask to do some of the negotiation for us. but you had to recognize what

you were dealing with, a negotiating partner not looking to security the border, but for political cover. then, when the elements of the border bill, it wasn't a border bill, it was an immigration bill, when it started leaking out, it became all too apparent that that bill was not going to secure the border. that bill was going to give democrats political cover. it's not talked about much in that bill. there are all kinds of elements that have been very fairly crypt sized. the -- fairly criticized. the main problem with that bill is that the 4,000 discretionary threshold -- a lot of ink has been spilled on the 5,000 threshold that was mandatory, that the president stop processing asylum claims and send people home. in other words, at