WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, on Wednesday spoke on the U.S. Senate floor to urge Senate Republicans to work with Democrats and pass the bipartisan border security bill that former President Trump convinced Republicans to kill earlier this year. Murphy called out Republicans for using the border as a political talking point, rather than trying to fix the problem and urged them to work with Democrats to pass this bipartisan legislation.

Murphy announced the reintroduction of the bipartisan border security bill: “I'm going to reintroduce the bipartisan border bill. And my hope is that we will bring that bill to the floor for a vote to give my Republican colleagues another chance to do the right thing, another chance to choose the safety and security of this country over the political prospects of their candidate for president. Americans want us to come together to pass border and immigration reform. They support compromise between the two parties. And that's exactly what the bipartisan border bill represented.”

Murphy laid out why Republicans voted against the toughest bipartisan border security bill in a generation when it was put on the floor in February: “Right now, there is only one party, the Democratic Party, that is serious about adding resources to the border, about updating our outdated laws, because it's been 98 days since a bipartisan border security bill, negotiated by Senate Republicans, including Senate Republican leadership, and Senate Democrats, came to this floor and was defeated because Republicans would not vote for it.

He continued: “Senate Republicans defeated the bill because it would be effective. And that doesn't make sense. Right? Why would that be? Why would Senate Republicans vote against a bipartisan border security bill that would have been effective at bringing order to the southwest border? The reason is this: Republicans have decided that they don't want to solve the problem at the border. Republicans have decided that they want this issue to be outstanding. They want the border to be chaotic. They want the border to be a mess, because it helps for their political purposes. It helps win an election.”

Murphy concluded: “So [tonight], I will reintroduce this legislation. I don't expect it'll get every single Democratic vote. Because it’s a true compromise. But I expect it will get enough Democratic votes that if half of the Senate Republican caucus votes for it, it will pass. And we'll be a step closer to doing what America wants: continuing our tradition of robust legal immigration, building upon our tradition, as a country founded upon immigration, but doing it in a legal way, and creating a much more orderly system at the border. That's what America wants: keep our system of legal immigration, get the border under control. The bipartisan border bill does both of those things. And my hope is that we can come together, and Republicans will choose this country and border security over the political prospects of their presidential candidate, Donald Trump.”

A full transcript of Murphy’s remarks can be found below:

“Madam President, it's been 98 days, almost 100 days, since Senate Republicans killed the toughest border security bill, the toughest bipartisan border security bill that has been before the Senate in nearly a generation.

“We are proud that our nation is a nation with a robust history of immigration. We know that our future involves inviting people to come to this country to seek a better life, to be part of our growing economy, to start their own businesses, to flee violence or terror or torture. We're proud of our history of immigration. We know that America only thrives in the future by committing ourselves to a future of robust immigration.

“But what has been happening at the border over the past several years is unsustainable. We want people to come to this country, but we cannot handle 5,6,7,8,9, 10,000 people arriving on a daily basis. Our system of legal immigration is broken. People come to the United States, they apply for asylum, and they often don't get their chance to make their case for ten years. That's not fair to those individuals, but it's also not fair to others who have been waiting outside of the United States to apply to come here.

“Our immigration system is outdated. It's in need of reform. Our border is under resourced with statutes that are equally outdated. And right now, there is only one party, the Democratic Party, that is serious about adding resources to the border, about updating our outdated laws, because it's been 98 days since a bipartisan border security bill, negotiated by Senate Republicans, including Senate Republican leadership, and Senate Democrats, came to this floor and was defeated because Republicans would not vote for it.

“Republicans would not vote for the bipartisan border security bill, not because it was an ineffective bill. In fact, quite the opposite. Senate Republicans defeated the bill because it would be effective. And that doesn't make sense. Right? Why would that be? Why would Senate Republicans vote against a bipartisan border security bill that would have been effective at bringing order to the southwest border? The reason is this: Republicans have decided that they don't want to solve the problem at the border. Republicans have decided that they want this issue to be outstanding. They want the border to be chaotic. They want the border to be a mess, because it helps for their political purposes. It helps win an election.

“If the border was under control, if there were less people presenting, if it was more orderly, that would be good for the country. But that might not be good for Republican electoral prospects, and therein lies the reason that we have not had action on the bipartisan border bill. Because Democrats want to get something done, Republicans want to keep this issue open. They want to keep the border a mess for political purposes.

“You don't have to listen to me. Senator McConnell said it out loud. Senator Lankford said it out loud. The reason that this bill was defeated 98 days ago is because Donald Trump told Republicans that it's better for Republicans to keep this issue alive and to not change the law to secure the country.

“[Tonight], I'm going to reintroduce the bipartisan border bill. And my hope is that we will bring that bill to the floor for a vote to give my Republican colleagues another chance to do the right thing, another chance to choose the safety and security of this country over the political prospects of their candidate for president. Americans want us to come together to pass border and immigration reform. They support compromise between the two parties. And that's exactly what the bipartisan border bill represented.

“Senator Lankford and I do not share views on the border. Senator McConnell and Senator Schumer do not share views on the border. But we all sat in a room for four and a half months, along with Senator Sinema, in order to find a compromise that would better secure our border and create a more humane, more efficient mechanism to bring people into this country legally.

“Let me just briefly talk about what this bill does. Because it'll make sense to Americans when you hear it. There's nothing radical in this bill, it's commonsense changes to our laws.

“First, it gives the President new authority to better control the border. Listen, we can't handle 10,000 people crossing a day. And so, what this bill does, it says that in periods of time when there are unusually high numbers of people crossing the southwest border, the president can close portions of the border, stop accepting asylum applications, until the numbers are reduced to the point where our resources at the border meet the number of people who are arriving. This is a bold new power, a bold new authority, for President Biden. But it's necessary. Because there are simply sometimes, some days, some weeks when the numbers are too high.

“The second thing this bill does is significantly reform our asylum application system. As I mentioned, you come to the southwest border, you present an application for asylum, and we are so backed up in that system that it often takes people five to ten years before their claim is heard. That's not right for that individual or for the country writ large. And so, this bill shortens that timeframe with new laws and new resources, so that instead of it taking ten years for a migrant to have their asylum claim heard, it could now take ten days, a few months.

“Now, that's the right thing to do. But it also has the effect of dramatically changing the calculus for people who are thinking about paying a trafficker $5,000, $10,000 to come to the United States. If they know that they have an illegitimate claim, and it's going to be judged as illegitimate within weeks, they won't pay the $5,000 to come to the United States. Today, they might be willing to pay it because even if they have an illegitimate claim, they may get to stay in the United States for five or ten years. This fundamentally changes the calculus and decreases the amount of risk that people are willing to take.

“But this bill also understands that we should have more legal pathways to come to the United States. And when people come to the United States and are waiting to have their claims heard, they shouldn't be living in the shadows. And so, this bill also increases the number of work and family visas by 250,000 over the course of five years to allow more legal, planful pathways for people to come to the United States.

“The bill also allows for individuals who arrive at the border to get immediate work authorizations in most cases so that while their application is pending, they can work, so that you don't have the situation we have today, where people are being warehoused in homeless shelters in hotels without the ability to work while they're waiting for their claim to be processed.

“And this bill does create some pathways for individuals who are here today to become citizens. In particular, our Afghan partners, who fought with us, who stood with us in Afghanistan, under this bill get the opportunity to become American citizens. And the children of high-tech workers that are here on temporary visas, who might have been born outside of the United States but were raised here in the United States. They get a chance to stay here as well.

“That's just a handful of the changes in the bill that enhance protections and benefits for individuals who are waiting for the determination of their claim to be processed. But the combination of these changes, the new authorities at the border, the emergency authority, the new asylum system, combined with some new protections for individuals who are coming to the United States, it represents a true compromise between Republicans and Democrats, between right and left. It's exactly what the American people want.

“And so, my hope is that our Republican colleagues have had the chance to rethink their vote from several months ago. My hope is that Republicans will decide to do the right thing for the country, the right thing for the border. We negotiated this bill at the request of Republicans. The chief Republican negotiator, Senator Lankford was chosen by the Republican Conference. Senator McConnell, and his staff were in the room for all of those negotiations.

“But Republicans voted against it, with the exception of four of our colleagues, for one reason, and one reason only. President Trump said it would be better for Republicans to keep this issue open to keep the border a mess. Better for Republican presidential and congressional campaign prospects. So [tonight], I will reintroduce this legislation.

“I don't expect it'll get every single Democratic vote. Because it’s a true compromise. But I expect it will get enough Democratic votes that if half of the Senate Republican caucus votes for it, it will pass. And we'll be a step closer to doing what America wants: continuing our tradition of robust legal immigration, building upon our tradition, as a country founded upon immigration, but doing it in a legal way, and creating a much more orderly system at the border. That's what America wants: keep our system of legal immigration, get the border under control. The bipartisan border bill does both of those things. And my hope is that we can come together, and Republicans will choose this country and border security over the political prospects of their presidential candidate, Donald Trump.

“I'm glad to be joined on the floor by a number of my Democratic colleagues today to talk about the importance of this measure, the chance the Senate has to act in a bipartisan way on border security. And with that, I'll yield the floor.”

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