Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is warning of a “grave national security risk” if the bipartisan border security bill is blocked tomorrow in the Senate.
This afternoon, Sen. Ossoff delivered an urgent Senate Floor Address to again sound the alarm on the counterterrorism threat associated with unlawful entry at the southern border, which he has warned is “real and it is urgent.”
“The threat of terrorism associated with unlawful entry at the southern border is real. It is pressing,” Sen. Ossoff said. “If the Senate fails to pass border security legislation; refuses to tighten asylum standards; refuses to hire more Border Patrol officers; refuses to expedite the removal of those who abuse our asylum system to enter the country unlawfully, our nation faces a grave national security risk.”
Click here to watch Sen. Ossoff’s Senate Floor remarks.
Please find a transcript Sen. Ossoff’s Senate Floor remarks below:
SEN. OSSOFF: “For years, too many Democrats have been in denial about the national security risks at our southern border.
“And I have been critical of fellow Democrats who have failed to acknowledge these risks, who have failed to recognize that knowing and controlling who enters our territory is fundamental to our sovereignty and our national security.
“But now, Madam President, the situation has changed.
“There are more than enough Democratic Senators ready and willing to pass a strong bipartisan border security bill — a border security bill co-authored by a conservative Republican Senator, Senator Lankford of Oklahoma, who has done extraordinary work crafting this legislation.
“A bill that would surge enforcement resources to the southern border, that would tighten asylum standards, that would expedite the removal of those who abuse asylum to enter our country unlawfully, that would hire urgently needed border patrol officers and take the fight to drug cartels flooding our communities with fentanyl.
“This is a bipartisan bill to help defend the nation against terrorists, who would exploit weakness at our southern border to enter our country and kill Americans.
“And now, it’s Republican Senators who have already once blocked, and this week are threatening again to block bipartisan border security legislation.
“Why, the American people ask, would Republicans in Congress block border security legislation amidst a national security crisis?
“The answer is simple.
“Asked recently on Fox News why Senate Republicans were blocking The Border Act, Senator Lankford, the Republican co-author of the bill put it very simply, ‘President Trump said don’t fix anything during the presidential election.’
“President Trump said don’t fix anything during the presidential election.
“The former president would rather wield the border as an election issue than see Congress secure it, and Republicans in Congress appear to be falling in line, even though it leaves the country at grave risk.
“Madam President, I urge my Republican colleagues to reconsider their position. Just as I have criticized Democrats, who for years buried their heads in the sand, about the threat at the southern border, just as I have criticized the Biden administration for its failures of the southern border.
“This is a time for Republican Senators to stand up to President Trump and say, no, we will not obey your command to leave the country at risk. Instead, we will do what’s right for the nation.
“Madam President, the threat of terrorism associated with unlawful entry at the southern border is real.
“It is pressing.
“If the Senate fails to pass border security legislation; refuses to tighten asylum standards, refuses to hire more Border Patrol officers; refuses to expedite the removal of those who abuse our asylum system to enter the country unlawfully, our nation faces a grave national security risk.
“The first vote we’ll take later this week on The Border Act will not even be a vote on passage of the bill. It will be a vote on whether the Senate agrees to debate and consider amendments to the legislation. If Senate Republicans think this bill is imperfect, if they want to offer amendments, they will have that opportunity.
“So, I urge my Republican colleagues, ignore the former president.
“President Trump said don’t fix anything during the presidential election.
“He’s not your boss. He’s not your constituent.
“We have an obligation to national security.
“The country’s at risk. Let us debate The Border Act, and I yield the floor.”
# # #
