Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On 100 Days Since Republicans Blocked Bipartisan Border Security Legislation And The Need To Take Action To Secure The Border

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor as we approach 100 days since Republicans blocked the bipartisan Border Act and on the need to pass border security legislation. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Tomorrow will be one hundred days since Senate Republicans blocked the strongest border security bill we have seen in a generation.

For the last two weeks, I have come to the floor with my Democratic colleagues calling on both sides to set partisanship aside and work together to fix the problems on our southern border.

America is proudly a nation of immigrants. We always have been, we always will be. Most Americans know our country is made stronger because of immigration – but they also know the current condition of border security is simply not acceptable. It’s a problem going back many years, going back many administrations.

After decades of neglect, our border security needs an update. Our immigration rules need reform to provide more opportunity and fairness and humane treatment of those who seek opportunity in America. And the only way we fix the border long term is through bipartisan legislation.

Let me say it again: the only way we fix the border long term is through bipartisan legislation, like the one we had in the Senate three months ago.

The bipartisan Border Act was precisely the kind of proposal Republicans and Democrats have been trying to produce for years. It contained the strongest border security provisions in a generation: it would have overhauled our asylum laws, hired thousands of new border agents, invested in cutting-edge technology to stop the flow of fentanyl, and given the President new authorities to close the border.

Now of course, our bipartisan border bill wasn’t perfect – not every Democrat supported this bill – but unlike other border bills, it was designed to pass both chambers in divided government.

If our border security bill was good enough to win the support of actual border patrol agents, shouldn’t it have been good enough to win the support of Senate Republicans?

And speaking candidly, when our bill was first released, many of our Republican colleagues were surprised with how strong it was, even if only in private. I dare say a significant percentage of the Republican Conference would have supported it.

If both chambers would have voted on our bill without outside interference, I am confident it would have passed and reached the President’s desk.

But as we all know, Donald Trump swooped in and told his MAGA supporters to kill the bill.

In fact, he was proud to kill it. “Please, blame it on me.” Those were Trump’s words after our bill went down, and I certainly don’t think it’s very smart of him to brag about killing an issue most people want to see fixed. Donald Trump treats this like a game, but most Americans just want to see the border fixed regardless of who does it.

Democrats have not walked away from trying to get something done on the border. We want to work with our Republican colleagues on border security, just as we showed we were serious when we worked with them earlier this year.

But our Republican colleagues must show they are ready to match their border rhetoric with real action. If Republicans are going to call the border an emergency, then they can’t suddenly kick the can down the road and say we can deal with this later. They can’t put up a partisan bill that they know has no chance of passing.

Americans don’t want just talk talk talk on the border. Americans want action. Americans want bipartisanship. Americans want Congress to pass border security like the one we released three months ago.

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