Thune Commends President Trump for Taking Decisive Action to Secure the Border
“We will provide resources to increase the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents, expand detention space, facilitate deportations of dangerous individuals, and obtain the barriers and technology that we need to secure the border.”
Click here to watch the video.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:
Thune’s remarks below (as delivered):
“Mr. President, President Trump’s border czar was at the Capitol yesterday to update Republican senators on the progress the administration is making on arresting and deporting criminals here illegally.
“And it’s difficult to believe some of the individuals they’ve arrested were still in the country.
“Members of violent international gangs.
“Individuals arrested for murder.
“For rape.
“For kidnapping.
“For drug trafficking.
“For sexual crimes involving children.
“And for human smuggling.
“Again, it is staggering that these criminals were out there on our nation’s streets.
“And our communities will be safer places without these individuals.
“Mr. President, since day one of his administration President Trump has been fulfilling his campaign promise to crack down on illegal immigration and secure our border.
“And it’s good to see.
“Immigration is a key part of our country’s story, and immigrants have made untold contributions to our country.
“But we need to ensure that immigration is done legally – for both the safety of our country and to preserve respect for the rule of law.
“The chaos of the last four years was unsustainable – and it was dangerous.
“We had 10 million individuals flood across our southern border.
“We had millions – millions – of undocumented individuals take up residence in our country – more than the population of a number of U.S. states.
“Law enforcement officials were overwhelmed, and officers were pulled off of the essential work of guarding the border just to process the flood of migrants.
“Border cities – and other cities across the United States – struggled to deal with the influx.
“And all of this chaos was an invitation to terrorists, to smugglers, to drug cartels, and other dangerous individuals to enter our country.
“And so I am tremendously proud and grateful for the incredible amount of work the president has done so far to make it clear that illegal migration will no longer be tolerated.
“But, Mr. President, there’s a lot more work to do.
“And some of that’s going to require Congress’ help.
“Mr. Homan – President Trump’s border czar – made clear to senators yesterday that Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement are going to need additional resources to continue the good work they’ve been doing to secure our border and to get criminals off of our streets.
“And we intend to deliver.
“Today Senator Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, is kicking off the committee markup of a budget resolution that will lay the foundation for a transformational investment in border security and immigration enforcement, and in our national defense.
“We will provide resources to increase the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents, expand detention space, facilitate deportations of dangerous individuals, and obtain the barriers and technology that we need to secure the border.
“Mr. President, for too long our country has tolerated rampant illegal immigration.
“That ends now.
“I’m grateful for everything the president is doing to protect our streets and uphold the law.
“And the Republican-led Congress will ensure that the administration has the resources needed to continue this important work.”
*********
“Mr. President, in a few minutes we’re going to be voting on a couple of nominees.
“The first one is Tulsi Gabbard, to be the director of the DNI.
“The second one will be a cloture vote to proceed to the nomination of Bobby Kennedy to be the secretary of health and human services.
“Now, what I observed that’s interesting about both of these nominees is that both are former Democrats.
“In fact, a year ago – a year ago – they were Democrats.
“I would argue they’ve seen the light, they’ve become Republicans, and now they’ve been nominated by President Trump to fill important posts within his administration.
“But I make that observation only because there’s a lot of talk these days about loyalty oaths and allegiance and saliva purity tests for people to be considered, you know, good enough to be in the, quote, so-called ‘MAGA movement’ – in other words, the Republican Party.
“And yet, when it comes to Democrats, a very different standard seems to be being applied here.
“Because both of these people were former Democrats.
“In fact, frankly, they probably agree with the Democrat Party here in the Senate on a lot of the positions that they hold.
“And yet, they had the temerity to come out and support positions that, perhaps, ran contrary to some of the positions held by particularly the progressive wing of the Democrat Party in this country.
“In the case of RFK, coming out for some positions that run counter to the orthodoxy of the health care so-called ‘establishment.’
“Or in the case of Ms. Gabbard, different views, perhaps, about national security matters than those held by a lot of Democrats, certainly here in this chamber and in the progressive movement in the country.
“And it harkens back to two other Democrats who pretty much got pushed out of their party here in the United States Senate for holding views that ran contrary to the majority view of the progressive wing of the Democrat Party.
“Those two Democrats were Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.
“In the case of Kyrsten Sinema, she was viewed, I think, by Democrats as perhaps too free-market.
“She was viewed as pro-business, as pro-investment, and as pro-jobs.
“A lighter regulatory touch, lighter tax policy, pro-energy policy.
“In the case of Joe Manchin, he had… what I would say are accurate views with respect to energy development in this country – in other words, making America energy dominant, a view shared by many in our party, including our president.
“And for that, he was viewed as too conservative to be a true Democrat.
“And so Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema ended up getting pushed out of the Democrat Party here in the United States Senate.
“Now, their ultimate, cardinal sin, however – in the case of Manchin, as I said, he was pro-energy in a party that is dominated by climate, green, all those, however adjectives you want to use to characterize or describe it.
“His views ran contrary.
“In fact, he tried to cut a deal with the Democrats in the Inflation Reduction Act, only to find out that they kind of went back on him and it wasn’t – the deal wasn’t what he thought he had agreed to.
“So, his views were out of the step, out of the mainstream of the Democrat Party – as were Kyrsten Sinema’s.
“But their cardinal sin, Mr. President, their cardinal sin was that they voted against getting rid of the legislative filibuster – a view that was held by, up until just a few years ago, a majority of Democrats here in the United States Senate.
“There was a letter signed, which I shared the other night, had 32 Democrat signatures on it, pleading with the leadership here in the Senate not to abandon the Senate tradition and heritage with respect to the filibuster.
“To maintain the heritage and tradition that the Senate has for open debate and for representation of the minority.
“For the requirement for collaboration and bipartisanship when it comes to moving consequential legislation.
“Those are the things that the filibuster traditionally was about.
“And up until a few years ago, most of my colleagues on the other side – a majority on the other side – signed a letter articulating their views that that ought to be the position of the United States Senate.
“Well, they tried to push it because they weren’t getting the outcomes they wanted on a couple of pieces of legislation when they had the majority a couple of years ago.
“And they forced a vote on changing the rules, breaking the rules, to get rid of the legislative filibuster and be able to enact an agenda that’s more consistent with their liking.
“There were two people that voted against it on their side: Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin.
“And for that cardinal sin, they were essentially ostracized.
“And to this day, Mr. President, the Democrat Party continues to hold a position now very contrary to the one they held just a few years ago about getting rid of the legislative filibuster.
“And why do they want to do that?
“Because they want to enact an agenda, a progressive, leftist agenda, which the American people voted against in November.
“And as recently as last summer at the Democrat convention, the Democrat leader basically laid out the things they want to do.
“First, he said, ‘We’re gonna get rid of the filibuster because we have the votes now.’
“‘Manchin and Sinema are gone, I’ve talked to the Democrats that we think we’re going to elect and we’re going to have 51.’
“And at that time, he was predicting a clean sweep.
“They were going to win the House, the Senate, and the White House.
“And they would get rid of the legislative filibuster, and the first thing they would do is they’d federalize our elections in this country.
“That would be the first thing they were going to do.
“And then they said they were going to enshrine abortion rights in law, that was one of the things they were going to do.
“There have been many on their side who have talked about packing the Supreme Court.
“About allowing statehood for Puerto Rico and for Washington, D.C.
“All elements of the agenda that they want to accomplish through getting rid of the legislative filibuster.
“That was articulated by the Democrat leader as recently as the Democrat convention last summer.
“Intentions that they had to get rid of the legislative filibuster so that they – they – so if their party is in control, that they could do the things that they wanted to do, that they felt that the American people were asking them to do.
“Well, it turns out there was an election between last summer and now, in which the American people spoke otherwise.
“And they had a very different view than the Democrats on a whole range of issues – issues on which I think the left and the Democrat Party’s completely out of step with the American people.
“Not the least of which is allowing boys to play girls’ sports.
“That’s a 90 percent issue with the American people.
“The House has passed legislation on it.
“We will vote on it at some point in the future.
“And I just can’t imagine – and I speak as a dad of daughters who were both female athletes, one of whom is in her high school and college hall of fame.
“I don’t know how anybody – and, you know, this is where I say, I think that there’s just a certain intuitive common sense the American people have, and they voted for that and made that abundantly clear in the election this last fall.
“And so I say that again, just to remind people when you hear this perspective about how Republicans don’t have any room for dissent, they all gotta be in lockstep.
“Believe me, we’ve got a lot of dissent on our side.
“Try leading the Republican conference.
“The Democrats, on the other hand, you have a dissenting view, particularly on something like the filibuster, sorry, you’re out of here.
“And so, Mr. President, today it’s ironic to me that we are going to vote on two nominees – President Trump’s nominees to be secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and to be the director of national intelligence – who are former Democrats.
“And I’ll be surprised – I would like to be surprised – but I don’t believe that there’s going to be a single Democrat that votes for either of the two people who, less than a year ago, were members of their party.
“In some cases, members of their party that goes back decades.
“The Kennedy family? The Kennedy family? Democrat politics in America?
“So again, two nominees who were Democrats a year ago, but because they articulate views now, or demonstrated dissent from the ideology of the Democrat Party, are no longer – can get even one Democrat to vote for them here on the floor of the United States Senate.
“Now again, I’m hoping to be surprised.
“That vote’s going to happen in about 30 minutes on Tulsi Gabbard to be director of national intelligence.
“And then shortly after that we’ll have a cloture vote on Robert F. Kennedy to be secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
“In each of those cases, you’ve got Democrats in good standing as recently as a year ago who have been pushed out.
“Come now, they’re nominees by President Trump for positions within his administration, and you’re not going to see a single Democrat vote for them.
“But we will confirm them, and we’ll get these people into these positions as soon as possible – and answer, I think, the mandate that was given by the American people in November.
“And that is, they want a different track in this country, a different direction.
“They have a, you know, different set of priorities than is being articulated here in the United States Senate.
“Mr. President, we also just recently had a vote on Laken Riley.
“And that was perhaps the most glaring example, again, of Democrats’ willingness to filibuster – something they wanted to get rid of two years ago.
“They wanted to get rid of the legislative filibuster, we get the majority, first time we put a bill on the floor, what do they do?
“They filibuster it.
“And so, here we are, slowing down these noms, full 30 hours on Tulsi Gabbard. I assume they’ll do the same thing on RFK.
“But these are people that are going to be confirmed and going to begin working in this administration to implement the agenda that the president of the United States has articulated, and the one that he carried to the voters in this last election – in an election in which the voters gave him a decisive majority at the polls.
“And so, Mr. President, I hope, again, that I’m wrong. I hope that we have a bipartisan vote today on either or both of these nominees.
“But I will tell you that, based on my assessment of where the party is, the Democrat Party in this country, it would come as a great surprise to me if that’s the case.”
Next Previous
