Crisis on the Border

Floor Speech

Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, the second issue I would like to talk about is my colleagues in the House are trying to find their way to pass legislation regarding the crisis on the border. They tried yesterday. They failed. They are back at it again.

I thank Speaker Boehner, from the Republican point of view, for not leaving town until we have a solution in a Republican-controlled House. It has been hard to find. It is an emotional issue.

It is a difficult issue on many levels. The human suffering of the children--everybody is moved by that, as we should be. But we cannot incentivize these three countries in question to keep sending their children here, putting their children at risk, and overrunning our systems. That is not the way to deal with our neighbor.

So the House hopefully will pass legislation reforming the 2008 law that needs to be reformed to make children from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, that region subject to the same laws as if you came from Mexico, and they are putting money aside to deal with the deportation problem and the humanitarian crisis.

If they can pass a solution to this problem, I am urging the majority leader of the Senate to bring us back in because we should not be gone for 5 weeks with something this important left unresolved. You may not agree with the House, but let's take up their proposal, amend it, vote on it, vote it up or vote it down, take the prior Democratic proposal, allow amendments to be had on both sides of the aisle, and see if we can find common ground on dealing with the border.

The President at one time embraced changes in the 2008 law. That has to be done or we will never solve the problem.

I do not mind spending money in a humanitarian fashion as long as we are spending money to solve the problem, not perpetuate it. So if the House can find its way in offering a solution to the border crisis, I am urging my Democratic colleagues who control this body to act. Let's not be gone for 5 weeks. Bring us all back. See if we can find a solution among ourselves in the Senate, talk to our colleagues in the House and solve the problem.

It is within our power to do so. I know we can get there. I know there are at least five or six Democrats who understand throwing money at the problem without changing the 2008 law gets you nowhere. There are plenty of people on our side who understand a humanitarian crisis does exist. Let's marry these forces and see if we can come up with a bipartisan compromise in the Senate.

The only way you can do that is to be allowed to offer amendments and debate. I cannot think of a problem more dramatic facing the Nation right now in terms of a crisis than what is happening on our border: 50,000 unaccompanied children, the spike in people coming from Central America after President Obama unilaterally gave amnesty to children already here. No matter how well intentioned, it has created the belief in that part of the world that if you make it to America you can stay.

We want you to understand there is a legal way to get to America. Just do not show up on the doorstep and ask to be taken in. That is not a way for our Nation to have to deal with people wanting to come to this Nation. So I hope we will not be gone for 5 weeks with this problem unaddressed.

If the House can get its act together and pass a solution to the problem, it would be incumbent, in my view, upon the Senate to reconvene, deal with the House proposal, come up with one of our own, and engage the House to solve this problem. Five weeks is a very long time to be away from a problem this important.

As to the August break, contrary to what a lot of people may believe, we do not all go on vacation. We try to take some time for ourselves and our families. But it is a chance to go visit other parts of the world, to get informed on problems that can come here in terms of affecting our national security. Situations over there are going to come here if we do not deal with them responsibly. It is a chance to do things in your State. So people are very busy during August. They try to capture some time for themselves. But at the end of the day, 5 weeks is way too long to be absent from Washington as the crisis on the border gets worse. If the House can find a solution to this problem, I am urging the Democratic-controlled Senate to bring us back, take up their solution, vote it up, vote it down, bring back the Senate bill, allow it to be amended so we can find consensus. Consensus is there if we want to find it.

I appreciate the Presiding Officer's voice on national security. The Presiding Officer has been a stalwart friend of Israel in trying to find a way forward regarding the problems the Ukrainian people face. I hope we can find a solution to our border crisis. But a final thought as to Israel: Today could be a very good day for the U.S.-Israel relationship. It started in the Senate. I hope my House colleagues will pass the Iron Dome legislation that we passed by unanimous consent today. The House needs to get this done so the President can sign this into law.

To my colleagues in the House: Please take up Iron Dome. Let's get this right.

I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

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