[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 99 (Thursday, June 11, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Page S2742]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           NATIONAL SECURITY

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, last week, Senate Republicans passed 
legislation to fund Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement for the next 3 years. On Tuesday, House Republicans passed 
the legislation, and, yesterday, the President signed the bill into 
law.
  I am proud that we got this done, of course. Republicans are deeply 
committed to ensuring a safe country and safe communities, and border 
security and immigration enforcement are key parts of that. No 
country--no country--can be secure if bad actors can make their way 
freely across the borders or criminal illegal immigrants are able to 
operate freely within our neighborhoods.
  So, as I said, I am proud that we got this done, but I also have to 
ask: How did we get here? How did we get to the point where one party 
has completely abdicated any responsibility for our Nation's security?
  It is not just this bill. Democrats have been playing fast and loose 
with our national security all year. Their two recordbreaking shutdowns 
strained our Nation's critical national security Agencies, particularly 
Agencies at the Department of Homeland Security, which was shut down 
for a staggering 119 days, all told, this fiscal year. The TSA, 
responsible for the security of our Nation's airports, has seen a flood 
of resignations, thanks to Democrats' decision to make these critical 
workers go without pay for quite literally months.
  And then there is border security and immigration enforcement. 
Democrats absolutely refused to provide so much as a dollar--a dollar--
to fund the agents who provide security at our Nation's borders and 
remove criminal illegal immigrants from America's streets. I can't make 
that point enough.
  If Democrats had their way, there would be zero--zero--physical 
presence at our Nation's borders and zero agents to remove criminal 
illegal immigrants who do make their way into our country. It is a 
breathtaking--breathtaking--level of irresponsibility.
  I am still not done because I haven't yet talked about FISA. Section 
702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is our Nation's most 
critical intelligence-gathering tool. Policymakers across the Federal 
Government from both parties rely on section 702 information on a near 
daily basis. And we were well on our way to reauthorizing it, with 
Democrat and Republican lawmakers here in the Senate working on an 
agreement. And then, as has happened more than once this year, 
Democrats backed out. Now, this critical tool is set to go dark on 
Friday, and what the consequences of that will be we cannot predict.
  It is striking how weak Democrats' ostensible reasons have been for 
all of these actions. They are blocking a critical national security 
tool because they don't like the President's temporary, short-term pick 
for Acting DNI. They shut down the Federal Government twice and refused 
to fund border security and immigration enforcement because they 
couldn't take yes for an answer.
  Ultimately, Democrats have made it clear this year that, for them, it 
is always politics over policy. And if our economy suffers, if our 
national security suffers because of Democrats' decision to shut down 
the government or refusal to fund border security, well, Democrats are 
apparently just fine with that.
  Polls tend to show that Americans trust Republicans more than 
Democrats when it comes to crime and national security. I think 
Democrats are making it very clear why that is. The fact that 
Republicans had to act alone to fund security at our Nation's borders 
is all the evidence you need to know to show that Democrats are 
fundamentally unserious about their national security responsibilities.
  Republicans, of course, will continue to do everything we can to keep 
our country and our communities secure. It is too bad the same cannot 
be said of Senate Democrats.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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