Chris Murphy Blasts GOP Over Opposition To The Bipartisan Border Bill After Trump Trashed It

5 months ago

At a Senate Democratic press briefing on Wednesday, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) spoke about border security.

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Transcript

00:00 Senator Schumer, it's clear as day, Republicans are addicted to using the issue of immigration

00:09 as a political tool.

00:11 They are allergic to solving the problem.

00:15 And that is as plain as day for the American people to see.

00:20 Everybody knows what happened here.

00:22 Republicans demanded that we begin a bipartisan process to try to come up with some solutions

00:28 to our broken border.

00:30 For four months, we crafted that compromise requested by Republicans, led by their appointed

00:38 negotiator, a hardline senator on the issue of immigration.

00:44 Senator McConnell was in the room.

00:46 Senator Graham was in the room.

00:48 And we produced the most significant, toughest bipartisan border security bill in 40 years.

00:58 And 24 hours later, after Donald Trump told them to kill the bill because he wanted the

01:04 border to remain a mess, the bill failed on the Senate floor.

01:11 But this isn't about politics.

01:14 The border is still a top issue to Americans, whether you live on the border or in the Northeast

01:20 or in the Mountain West.

01:23 And so we are committed to fixing this problem.

01:28 And we have a piece of legislation that is bipartisan and will do the job.

01:36 This legislation is tough, but these are tough times that require tough measures.

01:41 The bill would allow the President of the United States to close down parts of the border

01:46 during periods of high crossings.

01:49 The bill would fundamentally reform the asylum system so that no longer are people staying

01:54 in the United States for five or ten years while their asylum claim is being processed.

01:58 We would process those claims in days, weeks, or months.

02:03 It would invest $20 billion in border security, including hiring more asylum officers, more

02:11 border patrol agents, more immigration judges.

02:15 It would raise the pay of the people doing the toughest work in the field, as well as

02:21 providing more technology for them to do their jobs safely.

02:25 Here's the reason that Republicans opposed the bill.

02:29 Because it would have worked.

02:33 The bill would have brought our border under control.

02:37 And Donald Trump made it absolutely clear that he needed the issue of immigration to

02:44 remain an open wound.

02:45 He needed the border to remain a mess in order to have a shot at winning this election.

02:50 I've talked to a lot of my Republican colleagues over the course of the last few months.

02:54 I know many of them are very uncomfortable living under the thumb of Donald Trump.

02:59 I know many of them are uncomfortable with the vote that they took.

03:03 And so we're going to spend the next few weeks trying again.

03:08 Trying to reach out to our Republican colleagues and ask them to do what they said they wanted

03:14 to get done.

03:16 The development and passage of a bipartisan, tough border security measure that will get

03:22 our border under control.

03:23 Let me lastly say this.

03:27 The American people, in between the ten yard lines, believe the same thing.

03:31 They're proud of America's history of robust immigration.

03:37 They see it as essential to our future.

03:40 They want to do right by people today who are living in our shadows.

03:44 But they feel much better about doing that if the border is under control.

03:48 Today there is only one party that is serious about border security.

03:53 And it is the Democratic Party.

03:56 We are going to ask Republicans to join us.

03:59 But at the end of the day, that fact, that reality, is as clear as day as ever before.

04:06 Thanks.

04:07 Leader Schumer.

04:10 Senator Schiff.

Chris Murphy Blasts GOP Over Opposition To The Bipartisan Border Bill After Trump Trashed It

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