[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 196 (Wednesday, November 29, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5647-S5648]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Border Security

  Mr. President, on another subject, Border security is actually 
national security. This is not just a statement of legislative 
priorities or partisan politics; it is a fact of human history.
  The Senate has little more than 2 weeks to deliver supplemental 
legislation on the four urgent national security priorities. And each 
one of them deals directly with the questions of border and 
sovereignty.
  For over a decade, Putin has been trying to redraw the borders of 
Europe. He has invaded and occupied Georgia and Ukraine. He has 
attempted assassinations and influenced operations on foreign soil. And 
he has exploited humanitarian crises to weaponize migrant flows to 
Europe, including, most recently, at the border of Finland.
  Meanwhile, the Hamas terrorists who rule Gaza violated sovereign 
borders on their way to slaughtering 1,200 Israelis and taking hundreds 
more hostage. These savages' stated objective is to erase the borders 
of the state of Israel ``from the river to the sea.''
  China, for its part, is also keenly focused on challenging borders. 
The PRC has used force in an attempt to gain the upper hand along its 
border with India. It has expanded its military footprint in the South 
China Sea and threatened to resolve longstanding territorial disputes 
with multiple neighbors by force. And China's historic investments in 
military modernization are aimed at threatening Taiwan's sovereignty 
and bringing the island to heel.
  Borders matter. Sovereignty matters. The United States is a global 
superpower with global interests. And we have an interest in preventing 
autocrats and terrorists from trampling the borders of Europe, the 
Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific. Because if we leave them unchecked, 
these aggressors will keep challenging borders and keep starting wars.
  Borders are intrinsically and universally about a nation's security. 
Controlling and defending them is the essential predicate of 
sovereignty. So it is not by accident that, in addressing urgent 
national security priorities, Senate Republicans are working so hard on 
policy changes to restore security to Americans on borders.
  Trying to clean up the Biden administration's border crisis isn't 
some arbitrary interest; that is, unless you ask the Democratic leader. 
According to the senior Senator from New York, the national security 
crisis his party has abetted at the southern border is ``extraneous'' 
to the national security supplemental before the Senate. The way our 
colleague sees it, securing our own borders as we help our allies and 
partners defend their sovereignty would be dangerous.
  Dangerous? Here in the real world, what is dangerous is denying the 
humanitarian and national security crisis festering at America's 
southern border on President Biden's watch. What is dangerous is 
accepting the record numbers of illegal aliens surging across our 
borders as the new normal. What is

[[Page S5648]]

dangerous is defending open borders and a broken asylum and parole 
system, even at the risk of urgent assistance to our partners in 
Ukraine, Israel, and Asia.
  The Biden administration's open borders will rank among its biggest 
national security failures, plain and simple. But if Senate Democrats 
refuse to take border security policy changes seriously, they will also 
be wrapping American weakness up as a Christmas gift to Russia, China, 
and Iran.
  Borders are an essential element of national security. They are not 
extraneous. We must secure and defend sovereign borders beginning right 
here at home. If we fail to uphold this basic, fundamental 
responsibility, America and our friends around the world will pay 
dearly.