[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 162 (Tuesday, October 3, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4902-S4903]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           GOVERNMENT FUNDING

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, now on another matter, last week, the 
Senate voted to prevent a domestic budget dispute from shutting down 
the Federal Government. Now, with straightforward, short-term funding 
in place, it is time for Congress to redouble our efforts on a number 
of unfinished priorities.
  In the coming weeks, the Senate needs to continue making progress on 
full-year appropriations. And we will begin by funding important 
resources for military construction, veterans services, agriculture, 
housing, and transportation infrastructure.
  But our work does not stop there. The Senate also needs to address 
urgent supplemental funding needs and continue our work to bring the 
Biden administration's reckless spending and radical regulations to 
heel.
  Many of our colleagues are particularly keen to deliver additional 
relief to communities rebuilding after devastating national disasters--
from hurricanes on the gulf coast to wildfires in Hawaii, to flooding 
in Kentucky.
  Bipartisan majorities in both Chambers continue to recognize that 
providing additional lethal assistance to Ukraine's defense against 
Russian aggression is in the United States' direct interest.
  Across the country, as historic inflation continues to wreck 
household budgets, millions of working families are ready to turn the 
page on Bidenomics.
  After three record-setting years of functionally open borders, folks 
in every State are eager for Congress to force the Biden administration 
to start cleaning up the southern border crisis. The fiscal year that 
just ended saw apprehensions at the southern border exceed 2 million 
for only the second time in history. The first time was just last year. 
Some reports expect that the last month's total could clock in as the 
highest on record. On President Biden's watch, illegal border crossings 
and asylum claims have stretched Border Patrol and ICE personnel to 
their breaking point.
  Authorities are seizing hundreds of millions of lethal doses of 
fentanyl, although they also estimate that they are apprehending just a 
fraction--roughly a quarter--of all the fentanyl that is smuggled at 
the border.
  Frankly, this is less about providing border personnel with new 
resources than it is about giving them the authority and direction to 
actually enforce the law. It is certainly not about bailing out blue 
State sanctuary cities while the tsunami of illegal immigration 
continues unabated. It is about the administration finally taking 
commonsense steps to end their wrongheaded policies that have 
encouraged illegal immigrants to cross our borders in the first place.
  Every State is now a border State. Major cities like New York and 
Chicago are being overwhelmed by arrivals from the southern border. 
Finally, even blue State mayors and Governors are joining the chorus 
calling out the administration for its utter failure on border 
security.
  Of course, across the country, liberal local governments and innocent 
residents are also facing the consequences of years of soft-on-crime 
policies, and once again our Nation's Capital leads the headlines.
  Just last night, for example, Congressman Henry Cuellar was the 
victim of a violent carjacking a few blocks from the Capitol Building. 
Armed assailants threatened him at gunpoint and stole his car. 
Thankfully, our House colleague was not injured, and his car has been 
recovered.

[[Page S4903]]

  It is not even the first time this year that a Member of Congress has 
been assaulted while in town for work. But this is what private 
American citizens are facing every single day, like the 22,000 people 
who had their car stolen in Chicago this year or the 20,000 victims of 
felony assault in New York City. This sort of brazen violence against 
anyone should be a wake-up call for local officials.
  Last year, a 54-year-old man was murdered at a gas station in 
Washington by a group of teenagers attempting to steal his car. The 
city is now averaging two carjackings every day, and these crimes are 
increasingly being committed by young people.
  At a certain point, the American people who visit our Nation's 
Capital by the millions every year might expect the city's liberal 
government to finally start getting serious about securing the streets, 
but even as senseless violence increases, local leaders are bent--
bent--on undermining public safety.
  One member of the DC Council--the same soft-on-crime panel that tried 
to weaken sentencing for repeat offenders earlier this year--proposed 
recently that local courts be required to provide a written explanation 
before releasing violent criminals before trial. The courts' response? 
Such a requirement was ``not feasible'' because it would 
``significantly increase'' their workload. All this in a city where 
prosecutors declined to even prosecute two-thirds of the arrests last 
year.
  American families deserve to feel safe in their homes and in their 
neighborhoods and certainly in the Nation's Capital. It shouldn't take 
another assault or carjacking or homicide to convince leftwing local 
leaders to start actually doing their jobs.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic whip.

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