JUST IN: Kyrsten Sinema Shreds Dems For Playing A 'Cynical Political Game' With Border Security Bill

5 months ago

During remarks on the Senate floor, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) accused her Democratic colleagues of using the border security bill to score political points.

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Transcript

00:00 Senator from Arizona. Mr. President, I stand here today yet again as the border crisis continues to

00:06 devastate my state. On February 7th, I stood here angry that rank partisanship tanked the single

00:14 most important piece of border security and immigration legislation produced in decades.

00:19 As we all remember, last October, I joined with Senators James Lankford of Oklahoma

00:26 and Chris Murphy of Connecticut to craft this legislation. We worked every single day for over

00:31 four months navigating difficult policy decisions, working carefully to get it right. After months of

00:40 tireless negotiations, we delivered a strong product. We produced a bill many thought impossible.

00:47 We ended catch and release. We added more detention beds. We increased deportation flights.

00:54 We quickly decided asylum claims, and we put Border Patrol back in the field where they belong,

01:00 securing the border, not stuck inside processing paperwork. Yet less than 24 hours after we

01:07 released the bill, my Republican colleagues blocked it, despite the fact that this is the

01:13 most restrictive migrant legislation in decades. My Democratic colleagues blamed Republican political

01:19 theater for blocking action. So did I. They were right. I spoke here on the Senate floor twice

01:27 in defense of our legislation. It turns out my Republican colleagues were all talk and no action.

01:33 Today, though, my Democratic colleagues have chosen more political theater instead of real

01:38 efforts to solve this crisis. All talk and no action goes both ways. Today, the Senate will

01:45 hold a show vote whose sole purpose is to point the finger back at the other party. Yet another

01:51 cynical political game. These games demonstrate exactly why Americans have lost faith in their

01:58 elected leaders. A Congress bickering and fighting for power instead of solving problems and making

02:04 progress, any kind of progress, for regular people. Today's vote is not an attempt to solve

02:11 the problem or provide relief to Arizona border communities. Today's vote is to send a message.

02:16 But Arizona doesn't need your message. Arizona needs your help. Arizona needs action.

02:25 These games of tit for tat, caving to the political messaging game, force both parties

02:32 further to the fringes and further away from real solutions. Today, the Senate is proving

02:38 what many Americans already think about Congress, that senators come here for political games,

02:43 not to deliver results. Today's vote won't deliver lasting results for Americans.

02:50 But the impact of today's vote is actually worse than simply being a useless message.

02:56 Because this vote does send an important message. But it's a message to us as lawmakers.

03:05 I've often asked my colleagues in the interest of our nation to step out of partisan boxes and

03:10 work with me to find real solutions to real problems. We've done it time and time again.

03:17 This time it didn't work. Nearly four months later, I'm still deeply disappointed

03:24 that we didn't solve the border crisis for my state and for our country.

03:31 But to use this failure as a political punching bag only punishes those who were courageous enough

03:38 to do the hard work of finding compromise in the first place. So who will be courageous next time?

03:46 Who will stand up and do the hard work? Who will take the risks? Who will say, yes,

03:54 I'll help solve this big challenge our country faces? Why would anyone? We don't leave today

04:02 with a political victory. No one wins. No one gets the higher ground. Instead, we're saying to each

04:10 other, don't step out. Don't try to solve big problems. Stay in your partisan corner. Yell some

04:18 more. Blame the other side. Today, yet again, the Senate has chosen politics. But my state is still

04:28 suffering. And as I said on the floor back on February the 7th, if you want to spend the border

04:34 crisis for your own political agendas, go right ahead. If you want to continue to use the southern

04:41 border as a backdrop for your political campaign, that's fine. Good luck to you. But I have a very

04:48 clear message for anyone using the southern border for staged political events. Don't come to Arizona

04:55 for your political theater. Do not bring it to my state. In Arizona, we're serious. We don't have

05:03 time for your political games. There are big challenges facing the Senate and our country.

05:11 And evidently, this is not a Senate interested in solving those challenges. Americans deserve better.

05:19 I yield the floor.

JUST IN: Kyrsten Sinema Shreds Dems For Playing A 'Cynical Political Game' With Border Security Bill

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