Senate Republican leaders hold their weekly press briefing.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Well, good afternoon, everyone.
00:17I think the decision by the Armed Services Committee to plus up the NDA this year is
00:28extremely significant.
00:30Not only did every Republican vote for it, most of the Democrats did as well.
00:36I think that's an accurate reflection of where we ought to be headed in terms of defense
00:42spending based upon current conditions.
00:46When the agreement was made last year, the world did not seem to be quite as much afire
00:55as it is now.
00:58We need to react to where we're headed, not only big power competition with China and
01:05Russia, but also Iran.
01:08And now, of course, we have the war in Israel on top of everything else.
01:13So I want to commend Senator Wicker and the bipartisan group on the Armed Services Committee
01:22who gave us a roadmap.
01:25Now the challenge is going to be to find a way to pursue the roadmap with real money.
01:33The leader is right.
01:38The most important job we have as elected officials is the safety and security of the
01:44American people.
01:45And so I was very pleased to see Senator Wicker and members of the Senate Armed Services Committee
01:50last week, in a big bipartisan way, pass out legislation that increases the top line,
01:56the defense top line, by $25 billion.
02:00I've always said if you don't get national security right, the rest is really conversation.
02:06And I think it's critically important for all the reasons that the leader mentioned.
02:10We got a land war in Europe.
02:13We have Israel is at war with Hamas terrorists and Iranian proxy groups.
02:19Iran is increasingly aggressive.
02:21These all represent threats to the United States of America and to our people.
02:26And so it is critical, in my view, that the Senate take up the National Defense Authorization
02:31Act, and I would hope that Senator Schumer would decide to do that.
02:38I'm hoping that's the case, but if, you know, past his prologue, he will push this and try
02:45and push it to the end of the year.
02:47I don't think that accords it the priority that it deserves.
02:51I think that this legislation needs to be on the floor of the United States Senate with
02:54a robust amendment process so individual senators have an opportunity to come and have their
02:59voices heard in this very important legislation.
03:04But the one thing I think that is clear in all this, and that is that there are some
03:09things that are more important than politics, and national security happens to be one of
03:14them.
03:15We're voting on a bunch of – a series of show votes.
03:17We're voting on all kinds of things that are not going anywhere.
03:21There's no objective or intention to make law or to have any of these things enacted.
03:28They're all political show votes because this is an election season.
03:31America's national security is not a political issue.
03:34It is the number one issue when it comes to defending the safety and security of the American
03:39people, and Congress should act like it.
03:49Terrorists have arrived in America.
03:51The FBI says that lights are blinking red, warning lights.
03:57National security experts say that there is an increased risk of a coordinated attack.
04:04Why?
04:05Because the Democrats are the party of open borders.
04:09Just last week, eight illegal immigrants were arrested with ties to the radical, extreme,
04:17violent terrorist group ISIS.
04:19They were arrested in California, Pennsylvania, and New York.
04:25They came from Central Asia to Mexico, and from there easily came to the United States.
04:31Why?
04:32Because this open-border policy of the Democrats has something called catch-and-release.
04:39Democrats let me tell you, it is not working.
04:41You are releasing into the United States criminals, drug dealers, murderers, and now terrorists.
04:49And for other Americans, let me tell you, we are living on borrowed time.
04:55This Biden administration and the Democrats have let 10 million illegal immigrants into
05:00our country.
05:02Ten million.
05:03Common sense will tell you that among them are additional terrorists, and Democrats have
05:09no plan to keep us safe.
05:12Last week, Joe Biden had an executive order, a feeble executive order.
05:17Too little, too late.
05:19And today at the White House, Joe Biden is going to be down there with another order,
05:23which is going to provide amnesty for another half million illegal immigrants.
05:28Our country is being invaded by illegal immigrants, and in this Senate, Democrats are repeatedly
05:33voting to continue this.
05:36The American people want secure borders.
05:38We want to know who's coming here.
05:40Republicans have solutions.
05:41It's finish the wall.
05:42It's stop, catch, and release, and bring back a policy that works.
05:46And that policy is called Remain in Mexico.
05:53And I'm going to keep piling on where he left off.
05:57So yes, once again, President Biden has rolled out the red carpet for illegal migrants.
06:07So we're hearing the doublespeak again.
06:10Out of one side of his mouth, he's saying, look at me, I'm doing an executive order.
06:15We're going to control the border.
06:17And then on the other hand now, he's offering basically mass amnesty to hundreds of thousands
06:26of illegal migrants that are currently within the country.
06:31So who's listening to this doublespeak?
06:33Well, I can tell you it's our adversaries, terrorist organizations, and most certainly
06:41it's the cartels.
06:43So let's just look at where we are since the executive order nearly two weeks ago.
06:50We had 2,700 illegal crossings just in the San Diego sector.
06:58Just as Senator Barrasso said, we had eight illegals in the United States that were caught
07:05that have links to ISIS, a terrorist organization.
07:10And just most recently, we saw the horrific rape and murder of a mother of five by an
07:18illegal immigrant.
07:21When and where does it stop?
07:23Joe Biden, this is on you.
07:25We need to secure our border.
07:27Well, I'm going to change it up a bit.
07:32Before I do, though, I would like to say something Senator Ernst said, who is listening to what
07:37the president's saying with his back and forth ping ponging on his immigration policy?
07:44I'll tell you who's going to end up listening is the court system.
07:47This is all going to the court system.
07:50None of it will be put into effect because it's going to have to be litigated, and it's
07:55all being put out in front of the American people for political fodder for the election
07:59in November.
08:00That's obvious.
08:01So there's no passion here, there's no real policy here, because this is all going to
08:06be listened to by the courts in the United States and will not be even litigated before
08:11we turn the clock into 2025.
08:14But today I want to talk about something that is good news, and that is the ADVANCE
08:19Act.
08:20That is a bill that I've worked on for over a year through my EPW committee.
08:25It is in conjunction with Senators Carper and Senator Whitehouse.
08:30The House passed the ADVANCE Act by 393 to 13.
08:36What does it do?
08:37It's for advanced nuclear.
08:38We hear a lot about the solutions of energy.
08:41How are we going to meet the energy demands of tomorrow?
08:44For me, we've got to have all of the above, certainly natural gas, coal, renewables.
08:49But we need nuclear, and particularly the new technologies of nuclear, to be a big part
08:55of our energy future.
08:57Small modular reactors are the future of nuclear energy, but we have a regulatory system right
09:03now that does not address and license these reactors quick enough.
09:08They don't have the speed nor the staff to be able to do this.
09:12But we also need to take, as the United States, the power of the world, nuclear innovation
09:19to the rest of the world.
09:21We want to be the leader here.
09:24And so the ADVANCE Act reforms some of the NEPA process for siting nuclear, small modular
09:32nuclear.
09:33It also works on innovation of the technology.
09:36It works to speed up the licensing so we can see more of this moving forward.
09:40And it also, for areas such as mine that have abandoned power sector, maybe a coal-fired
09:47power plant that's no longer in service that has transmission, it encourages the use of
09:53those assets to be transformed into a small modular nuclear facility.
10:01They're big employers.
10:02It's green energy.
10:05It's baseload energy.
10:06We have 20 percent of our energy now is nuclear.
10:09And so I'm excited.
10:10I'm anticipating that we will have a big bipartisan vote.
10:15This will be our economy, our energy security, and our innovation, and our environment all
10:22wrapped into one.
10:24Thanks.
10:27More fair and more just.
10:34That's what Joe Biden called his immigration policies that he started rolling out today.
10:40But today I ask, where is fairness and justice for Rachel Morin?
10:47She was the Maryland mom who was raped and killed by Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez.
10:56And Hernandez wasn't just any street thug.
11:01He committed murder in El Salvador.
11:04He then came across our southern border illegally.
11:09A few weeks later, he committed a home invasion in Los Angeles.
11:15And then a few months after that, he murdered and raped Rachel Morin, a mom of five, while
11:23she was out walking on a trail in Maryland.
11:28This is clearly similar to Lake and Riley's murder in February.
11:34Lake and Riley was a nursing student in Georgia who was murdered while out on a run by another
11:41illegal who was just freely roaming our streets.
11:46Sadly, this is Joe Biden's America, and it's Joe Biden's border crisis.
11:54We have terrorists.
11:55We have violent criminals coming across the southern border who are raping and murdering
12:00Americans.
12:02Where is the justice for Rachel Morin?
12:06Where is the justice for Lake and Riley?
12:11The American people are going to right this wrong by holding Joe Biden and Senate Democrats
12:18accountable in November.
12:22Leader McConnell, you've seen videos of the President in Europe and here in the States.
12:29Do you believe that these videos are deepfakes and that they're – and is there an actual
12:37security issue here in terms of how our adversaries and our allies see the ability of our Commander-in-Chief
12:44to make critical decisions in response to new conflicts?
12:49Look, I think when it comes to national security – and that's what you're talking about,
12:56right – it's collective responsibility on the part of all of us to make defense spending,
13:06as I said earlier, job one.
13:10We're going to have an election this fall, and the American people can decide which of
13:16these candidates they want to lead us into the next four years.
13:21But whoever it is, in my view, needs to make national security the top priority.
13:28Excuse me.
13:29Leader McConnell.
13:30Alex.
13:31Are you going to reach out to Speaker Johnson to get him on board with the Wicker proposal
13:35to increase defense spending by $25 billion?
13:37And what are the next steps to get the Appropriations Committee to come along with that number?
13:42That's the challenge.
13:45Senator Murray has said once again she's going to insist on equal treatment for defense
13:51and nondefense.
13:52That, in my view, is absurd.
13:54It doesn't reflect current needs.
13:59The agreement that former Speaker McCarthy and the President reached has a top line in it.
14:05Whether that still makes sense a year later, given all the intervening events,
14:11is something we're going to try to work out.
14:13But in the end, what I feel very strongly about is we need to begin to deal in a way
14:20that Senator Wicker laid out over the next five years with reflecting the actual changes
14:30to our national defense needs.
14:33And there are tripwires you have to deal with in the process.
14:40Burgess.
14:41Do you plan to attend and or speak at the Republican National Convention this summer?
14:47National Convention?
14:48Yes.
14:49Yeah.
14:50Will you be speaking there, too?
14:51Hmm?
14:52Speaking there?
14:53I don't know what role I'm going to play, but I'm going to be chairman of the Kentucky
14:57delegation, as I have been for a number of years, and I'll be there.
15:02Okay.
15:03Do you believe bump stocks should be banned legislatively?
15:08Bump stocks?
15:09The bill that's coming up later?
15:10We would.
15:11Yes.
15:12Okay.
15:13Thank you.
15:14Thank you.
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15:35Thank you.
15:36Thank you.