Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Senate Sen. Cornyn On Shutdown

CSPAN2 U.S. Senate Sen. Cornyn On Shutdown DACA January 23, 2018

It was never going to work. American people have had enough of these kind of games. The verdict is on both your houses. I dont think anyone comes out of this looking very good. But surely this calculated stunt that put funding for the government, military and Childrens Health Insurance Program at risk all because our colleagues wanted to accelerate consideration off the issue, but for actual childhood arrivals. The spending bill bills that mue issue was resolved despite the fact the majority of americans in the recent polls say avoiding a shutdown was more important than otherie priority is. If you just think about the concerns and they are legitimate and im sympathetic with them at the 690 recipients, 690,000 versus 320 million americans who were hurt by this shutdown. Perceiving the extension they said we will do it for three weeks. She was going to do that anyway because we know that the program could be deferred action expires in march, march 5. So, the logic would tell us we have to take it upe in februar, but it just seems so unnecessary and harmful to try to shut down the government to force something that was going to happen anyway. So, i said it doesnt make much sense to me. Im glad our colleagues decided to take the step to reopen the government while we resume our work to find a solution on this immigration issue. But we have a lot of other important issues first of all weve got the Childrens Health Insurance Program will be reauthorized as part of this vote shortlyv but weve got otr issues weve got to agree on the spending caps, so the Appropriations Committee can figure out how much can we to our national security. Weve shortchanged the security because of the budget control act and sequestration absent a grand bargain. This has been a problem not just for congress and the country but particularly its falling hard on our military at the time when James Clapper the former director of National Intelligence said in his 50 years in the Intelligence Committee he had never seen a more diverse array of threats confronting the country and the world and you can just take down the list from north korea to iran, russia, china. There is the threat of homegrown terrorism in the United States because of domestically inspired islamic extremists. And the agencies and the department of defense. So, we need to take care t of tt and deal with disaster relief. I come from a state that was hammered by hurricane harvey. The most significant in many or perhaps a thousand years where 50 inches of rain inundated the city of houston and the environment and many people were still not back in their homes or businesses or were blown away and while the house of representatives voted on an 81 billiondollar business relief package because of the holdup here because our democratic colleagues in the senate think this issue is more important than those victims of natural disasters not to mention the wildfire southwest thats been put on ice as well. So as we consider what to do to provide some assistance to these people who were brought here as children by their parents and are in somewhat of a box. Early today i went to the white house with several to meet with President Trump to discuss the areas laid out on the march 5 deadline. We are working through those issues as i speak trying to find a solution for the recipients making sure Border Security and enforcement is beefed up so we dont have a repetition of the situation in the future. We are also looking to limit the chain migration and perhaps even used some of the additional pieces left over to accelerate the movement of people whove been playing by the rules and waiting in line some for ten or 20 years just to rejoin their families here in the United States. Now these are literally provided based on the lottery,de not because the immigrant has any special skills or quality. But because they happen to win the lottery i think it sends to reform that in to use the additional pieces to deal with the backlog of people whove been waiting in line patiently with a legal fashion and to do what we can to reassign them to the meritbased and people that graduated with skills that we need here in the United States including science, technology, engineering and math. Thats the a lot of sense but im not going to decide this by myself. We have to build a coalition of democrats and republicans, and i think we can demonstrate our National American compassion when it comes to immigrants. We are a country that has been built by immigrants but the part we seem to forget a is we are ao a nation of law and thats what people have lost confidence in that the federal government is committed to secure the border and enforcing the law and if we do that i think the American People will continue to welcome people through the Legal Immigration system who want to come here for a better life and to contribute and pursue their dream. The meeting at the white house was a productive conversation and its one of many. I know senator schumer visited on the immigration question. There wasnt a proposal that he could support so back we go to the drawing board and no one pretends that this solution is easy but it is one that we need toga address. The president remains engaged and committed to finding a solution for those that are brought here through no fault of their own. I remain committed to the 124,000 recipients in my home state of texas. Its no surprise there is a large immigrant population the border, but we are not alone and many of the 690,000 recipients are spread to every state in the country. But i have a personal interest making sure we come up with a bipartisan solution for these young adults but face but it contains twong things. First for these young adults who are contributors to the communities and these are our neighbors and they work alongside of us in our community. They deserve an thoughtful solution that i hope d they deliver. I understand the plight they find themselves being. Ive had a chance because of the members in the house and senate and many of them are extraordinarily impressive. Theyve excelled in school and have a lot of promise, but the t. Read this burden of a status that doesnt permit them to stay in the country absent legislative action, so it is a precarious position and im not quite sure what the future will mean. But any solution that we come up with must protect 320 million americans that already live in the country in addition to these recipientsth. Therery needs to be some nationl symmetry to the extent that we provide compassionate relief to young people. I think we need to correspondingly assure the American People we are serious about Border Security and enforcing the law. Weve had to bear the burden of the cost including placing lawenforcement personnel because the government failed to do its job. I know peters will be there to see the federal government to step up and accept their responsibility. I know the president talked frequently about a wall. They talk about the act and said basically we are talking about the same thing. The Border Patrol usually refers to a this as they would call it tactical infrastructure. Myin tutor on matters affecting security for the rio grande has a lot of experience in arizona, texas and california. And he say says that each and ey place along the border. Its a combination of three things. It requires infrastructure, called defense, called it a wall, barrier, thats one piece of it for the second is but thes technological. Its technology. It is a balloon in the sky, ground sensors, radar, the unmanned aerial vehicle. But its basically tied into a system complemented by boots on the ground of border control. So when he says Border Security each place on the border involves Infrastructure Technology and people, what hes saying is we should lead to the expert how and where to deploy to each of these itemsmo where ethnic the most sense. If you go out to west texas ive flown over the cliffs that are 3,200 feet tall but look down at the rio grande river. You dont need to build a fence they are or awol, but you go to san diegoyo california, some of the core doors in the hard to control places in the texas and mexico border may be what you prefer to do is have a technological solution or in an urban area where its easy to dart across the border into the United States and the urban landscape would make sense to have fencing and technical infrastructures and walls where appropriate. So, being able to put in place the right mix of infrastructure, personal Technology One would enable us to regain the Public Confidence on this issue because if we address the plight of these young adults that doesnt address the cause of the problem which is ilLegal Immigration which is how they got here for being brought by their parents in the first place we will be back here arguing the same thing a decade from now. So i stand ready to work and im glad our democratic colleagues have joinedpe us today in the opening of the government so we can work on finding a solution to the Border Security immigration challenges. We are all working and have been from a test on a path forward and we will continue to do so now that the government has reopened and we can roll up our sleeves and work with our colleagues on the house and the senate to come up with solutions to the four items the president has identified. So i Welcome Ideas from our colleagues on both sides of the aisle and both chambers and certainly from the president

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