[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 6, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S404-S405]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Supplemental Funding

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, we recently released the text of the 
supplemental. This bill is about our national security, it is about our 
national credibility, and it is about our future. That is why Democrats 
have been glued to the table, negotiating in good faith every step of 
the way, because the stakes could not be higher.
  On Sunday, we rolled out a bipartisan, compromise package with $60 
billion in aid for Ukraine, $14.1 billion in security assistance for 
Israel, $4.8 billion to support our allies in the Indo-Pacific, $10 
billion for humanitarian assistance, $20 billion for operational needs 
at the border, and more.
  Now, I want to be clear, this is not the bill I would have written on 
my own. It is compromise legislation that came out of negotiations 
between Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans. As I have said before, 
I never believed that we should condition emergency aid for our allies 
on unrelated partisan priorities, but Republicans demanded that. They 
insisted we needed not just Executive action at the border or new 
resources but policy changes. So my colleagues--the junior Senator from 
Connecticut and the senior Senator from Arizona--worked around the 
clock, and now we have a bipartisan set of proposals, just as our 
Republican colleagues demanded.
  Now, before I say anything else, this will not be the last word on 
immigration reform. I will keep fighting--and I know many of us will--
day in and day out until we deliver on comprehensive immigration reform 
that creates a pathway to citizenship for the more than 11 million 
undocumented immigrants living in America and makes our system work 
better and more fairly. I know we need to finally pass the Dream Act. 
We need an immigration system that creates new pathways for legal 
status, eliminates dysfunction and backlogs, and recognizes that 
immigrants do make America great.
  Immigrants are not just crucial to our economy--although they 
absolutely are--they enrich our communities and strengthen the fabric 
of our country in countless ways. And we should, of course, be inviting 
the world's brightest minds and hardest workers to make America home. 
That will always remain a North Star for me as we push to make our 
system work better and meet new needs as more folks come to our 
country, fleeing persecution and seeking opportunity.
  We also have to address the root causes of migration in a way that 
promotes stability and mutual economic prosperity for everyone.
  The bipartisan compromise before us does not accomplish all of that. 
Border policy and immigration reform is a very tough issue, and in a 
divided government, compromise is required. So what we have in front of 
us is a tailored package aimed at addressing some of the challenges 
before us and one that can win passage in both Chambers.
  I am not thrilled with several of the provisions, but there are some 
important steps forward in it, like a quarter of a million new family 
and work visas over the next 5 years and pathways to citizenship for 
the brave Afghans who worked alongside our servicemembers during the 
war in Afghanistan.
  The bill would help speed up the processing of asylum claims, ensure 
for the very first time that everyone gets a written explanation of 
their asylum decision, and provide an important downpayment on new 
resources to clear the backlog.
  It would provide immediate work permits for folks who pass through 
the

[[Page S405]]

asylum screenings so they can provide for their families and build a 
life in our country.
  The bill enshrines for the first time a legal right to representation 
for all asylum seekers in expedited removal, and, especially important 
to me, it provides legal counsel for the youngest kids who arrive at 
our borders without a parent, seeking relief in the United States.
  It protects the President's parole authority--another means of 
preventing chaos at our borders.
  It helps ensure that documented Dreamers, the children of H-1B visa 
holders, are not deported.
  It provides critical new resources--a 75-percent boost--for our 
cities and our States and organizations around the country to provide 
lifesaving support to migrants who are already here.
  It also includes funding to help resettle refugees fleeing Putin's 
war and other horrific conflicts across the globe.
  It has significant new investments to not just detect and stop 
fentanyl at our borders but to stop the chemicals used to create it way 
up the supply chain.
  So this bill does leave a lot to be desired, but it is a compromise 
bill. It takes really important steps to get urgently needed aid to our 
allies and innocent civilians, and it was crafted to win bipartisan 
support.
  I will be voting for this package because American leadership is on 
the line here and because aid to our allies, including in Ukraine, and 
humanitarian aid to Gaza cannot wait a moment longer.
  I have tremendous appreciation for the tireless effort my Democratic 
colleagues put into negotiating away some of the worst and most 
partisan proposals. I am not new to brokering deals here in the Senate, 
and I understand that in negotiations, you don't always get what you 
want. In fact, you never do. But I also know that after a bill passes, 
you don't stop pushing for the progress you want to see, and that will 
be the case here. But when it comes to the bill before us, there is no 
reason--none whatsoever--for further drama or delay or partisanship.
  Funding for Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific all have 
overwhelming bipartisan support, and Senate and House Republicans alike 
were some of the loudest voices calling for changes to border policy in 
the first place. So despite the flurry of statements from Republicans 
we have seen in the past 24 hours, rushing to judgment, I hope they 
will join us in moving the very steps that they demanded.

  After all, if Republicans kill this deal without even voting, 
throwing out border policies that they demanded--that they demanded--
throwing their Senate colleagues under the bus, and throwing in the 
towel to dictators like Putin, how are they going to have any sort of 
credibility on addressing the border?
  They won't. The American people will rightly see it for the kind of 
naked partisan politics people cannot stand.
  We have a bill here that is serious. It is bipartisan, and it is 
urgently needed by our allies, especially Ukraine. If we do not fully 
meet this moment and soon, we are going to leave families living in a 
more dangerous world--a world where dictators like Putin trample 
democracies without consequences; a world where civilians who are 
caught in crossfire have less hope of getting basic aid, food, water, 
medical care; and a world where allies don't trust our promises and 
adversaries don't heed our warnings.
  That is unacceptable to me, and I urge our colleagues to join me in 
passing this bill through the Senate and in pressing the House to vote 
on this bill without any further delay.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Padilla). The Senator from Maryland.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I ask consent that I be permitted to 
finish my remarks before the scheduled vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.