[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 206 (Thursday, December 14, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S5970]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           National Security

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, it has been nearly 8 weeks since 
President Biden submitted his supplemental funding request and 
identified four key national security priorities. For 8 weeks, Senate 
Republicans have been working hard to produce legislation that takes 
appropriate action on all four fronts: helping Ukraine defeat Putin in 
Europe, helping Israel fight Iranian terror in the Middle East, helping 
Asian partners deter Chinese aggression, and helping the men and women 
of Border Patrol get the crisis at our southern border under control.
  At the same time, we have had to spend several weeks now trying to 
convince some of our Democratic colleagues not to tank the entire 
effort just because they wish a Democratic President had not put border 
security in his request.
  A number of Senate Republicans have been working in good faith to 
make sure that supplemental legislation makes substantive policy 
changes at the border, instead of just throwing money at the problem.
  Meanwhile, we have had to explain to Members of President Biden's own 
party why the border security issue he included in his proposal was not 
extraneous to America's national security.
  So here we are. Some very important conversations are ongoing. And 
here is the bottom line: The Senate cannot claim to address major 
national security challenges without a solution to the one we are 
facing on the southern border. We can't pretend to be serious about 
threats facing America and our allies without fixing the broken system 
that lets 10,000 illegal aliens cross our border in a single day.
  I am serious. Senate Republicans are serious, and I hope our 
colleagues are as well.