[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 116 (Wednesday, July 23, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S4723]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          SECURING THE BORDER

  Mr. McCONNELL. There is a lot we can get done in Washington when 
Democrats are willing to put the politics aside and work together for 
bipartisan results.
  We saw an example of that yesterday when the President signed a 
bipartisan workforce training bill into law, legislation I and others 
proudly supported. Unfortunately, though, we have rarely seen such 
bipartisanship from Washington Democrats these days. Working toward 
bipartisan solutions and helping the middle class, it always seems like 
such a chore for them. Just look at what President Obama and the 
majority leader have planned for the coming days.
  The President is off campaigning for a workforce training bill he 
already signed. It makes no sense, but this is a man who just can't 
stop campaigning. And apparently the majority leader is suffering from 
a similar condition. He is busy turning the Senate into a campaign 
studio. He wants to spend more of the Senate's time on a designed-to-
fail campaign bill that he loves to trot out before every national 
election. We have seen this proposal a couple of years ago before the 
election. Then, of course, for political purposes they pray that it 
will fail.
  Look, this is time that would be a lot better spent helping the 
middle-class families who are struggling in our country. Instead of 
worrying about design-to-fail legislation, we could be addressing 
things like the highway bill, which already passed the Republican-led 
House with massive bipartisan support, or addressing the humanitarian 
crisis on the southern border. That is where our focus should be. That 
is what the American people expect.
  The Border Patrol estimates that as many as 90,000 unaccompanied 
children will have crossed our border by fall. It is a dangerous 
journey to the border, and many have suffered heartbreaking treatment 
and abuse. That is why anyone who wants to help these children should 
be working overtime to spare them from this journey.
  A few weeks ago the President made some modest policy recommendations 
that should be a part of any legislation that deals with this crisis. 
Unfortunately, the far left objected and the President has since 
wobbled.
  That has led to top Democrats in Congress balking at even the most 
modest of reforms. They all seem to prefer a blank check that would 
preserve the status quo instead, and the President will barely lift a 
finger to encourage his own party to support these simple reforms.
  Remember, now, this is the same President who keeps telling us about 
this mythical phone he plans to use. So what we are saying is use it. 
Call the Members of your own party who object to what you said you 
wanted and what we all know is needed.
  Call the leadership of your party in the Senate who, despite the 
footage on the evening news, pronounced our southern border to be 
secure. Get them to support the policies that you told us would address 
this crisis. Frankly, it would be a much better use of your time than 
campaigning for a workforce bill you have already signed. Sending these 
children all over the country for indeterminate periods of time just 
isn't an answer.
  We need to humanely return them to their homes as soon as possible, 
and President Obama needs to show some leadership to help us get a 
long-term credible plan in place to do just that. He owes the country 
at least that much.
  Remember, news reports suggest the President could have intervened 
long ago to address this problem before it turned into a full-blown 
humanitarian crisis. But according to the Washington Post, he 
prioritized politics over helping these children.
  The paper cited a Congresswoman who admitted that her fellow 
Democrats recognized the urgency of this crisis, but they kept mostly 
silent because they didn't want to cause problems for the 
administration's political priorities in Congress.
  Democrats didn't want others to be able to point out that the 
President's policies had failed. It is really quite shameful. The Post 
also cited one source who said the administration staff was concerned 
about the growing number of children, but that they too were 
effectively overruled by White House political concerns.
  Here is what the source said:

       Was the White House told there were huge flows of Central 
     Americans coming? Of course they were told. A lot of times. . 
     . . Was there a general lack of interest and focus on the 
     legislation? Yes, that's where the focus was.

  In short, it appears the Obama administration knew about this problem 
a long time ago, did almost nothing, and the country is now faced with 
this crisis.
  So the President needs to get serious about this--not some other 
time--now.
  What we are saying is cut out the campaigning, tell your party's 
leadership in the Senate to get serious and work with Members of both 
parties to get this addressed.

                          ____________________