[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 203 (Monday, December 11, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5883-S5884]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Border Security

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, for all of its flaws, the supplemental 
request the Biden administration submitted to Congress did correctly 
identify four especially urgent national security priorities: defeating 
Russian invasion in Europe, countering Iran-backed terror in the Middle 
East, deterring Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific, and securing 
America's southern border.
  Late last week, President Biden said he was willing to make 
``significant compromises'' on Republican policy changes designed to 
restore real border security.
  And across the country, elected Democrats are emphasizing just how 
urgent this progress is. The Governor of Arizona reported over the 
weekend that her State is ``at a breaking point'' and that it needs 
Washington to ``step up, do its job, and bring security and order to 
our border.'' She is a Democrat.
  At the frontlines of the crisis that has unfolded on President 
Biden's watch, the mayor of Nogales, AZ, put it this way:

       I think it's time to say enough is enough. . . . I'm a 
     Democrat, a registered Democrat, but I run this city as a 
     human being.

  I know many of my colleagues here in the Senate share that 
frustration. Many of them recognize the urgency of the situation. Just 
over the weekend, in the time since Senator Lankford presented Senate 
Democrats with this latest opportunity to help fix America's broken 
asylum and parole system, the crisis at the southern border has 
actually gotten worse.
  With average daily border crossings near 10,000--10,000--CBP is now 
saying it is releasing 6,600 illegal aliens into the interior every 
single day. The backlog of asylum cases sits at 3 million--3 million--
and counting. And officials have reported arrivals from more than 150 
countries just since October 1.
  This is what a crisis looks like. This is what the Democratic leader 
spent last week insisting was ``extraneous'' to America's national 
security.
  Well, when it comes to keeping America safe, border security is not a 
side show; it is ground zero.
  Senate Republicans have no more spare time to explain this basic 
reality.

[[Page S5884]]

We cannot convince anyone who doesn't want to acknowledge the glaring 
facts on the ground. The Senate has to act.