LIVE: Senate Democratic, Republican Leaders Hold Weekly Press Conferences (Nov. 28) 2023-11-28 19:24

drill for Ukraine or Taiwan, and also to secure the border. I called the president last week to make sure he understood that there wouldn't be a bill without a credible effort to get on top of our disastrous southern border situation. I hope that made the point because I think on our side, I've been the most enthusiastic supporter of the underlying bill, but this has to be a part of it. It's extremely important that it be a part of it. Also, on Thanksgiving Day, got a call from the prime minister of Israel. I think it's really important that we not pressure the Israelis into a situation where they can't ultimately achieve their goal. But we are obviously happy about the hostages that have been released. There's still a lot there and more left to be done to get them out. By any objective standard, the Biden border strategy has been a complete and utter failure. Right on the heels of record-breaking months in the last three months, it's reported now that October is the worst October literally on record. 240,000 people apprehended trying to come into the country illegally, including 13, 13 on the terrorist watch list. And this crisis is affecting not only border communities, but communities all over the country, including some of our largest communities. The mayor of New York City has announced massive budget cuts so that he can deal with the migrant crisis in New York City, so much so that they're talking about freezing, hiring of police. They're talking about closing libraries. They're talking about cutting education funding. And as he has indicated, the mayor of New York, that is, that this is just the beginning unless they get major infusions of support from Washington, D.C. So the question isn't whether or not this is affecting communities not only on the border, but everywhere around the country. The question is, what are the Democrats going to be willing to do about it? And so far, the answer is nothing. Republicans have solutions, meaningful solutions that will slow the flow of people coming across our southern border illegally and provide relief for communities across the country who are feeling the strain of this on a daily basis. And the important point I will make in closing is that the reason this needs to be dealt with, the reason the Democrats need to work with Republicans to solve this is because this is a national security crisis. It is a humanitarian crisis. We know that. Fourteen people died, drowned, trying to come across the border just this last weekend. But this is a national security crisis. We are dealing with a national security supplemental bill in the Senate and in the House here, probably in the next couple of weeks. And there is no way that a national security bill will make its way out of the Senate and the House if it doesn't address the national security crisis at our border. We will insist on it. I spent Thanksgiving in South Korea with Wyoming soldiers who are serving at Camp Humphreys. You go to talk about home, the hunting season in Wyoming and Wyoming College football. You also go to thank them for what they're doing. They are on the front lines against an aggressive communist China and a belligerent North Korea. The world is increasingly dangerous because the world sees President Biden as increasingly a pushover. So you have North Korea, Iran, Russia, communist China, all working together, feeling emboldened. And they are locked in this effort to undermine America and our strength. And then our friends don't trust us after the disastrous way that President Biden left Afghanistan. The President recently met with President Xi of China. Xi must be licking his lips after that meeting. Joe Biden went in naively to talk about climate change as President Xi is doing dress rehearsals for an invasion of Taiwan. Joe Biden's worried about global climate change, and I'm worried about a global nuclear winter with him in the White House. So we're now dealing with a national security bill. It does nothing adequately to address the southern border. The border's being overrun. Deadly drugs. Potential terrorists. All of these things the Democrats have to know that they need to work with Republicans on finding serious, significant changes at how the southern border is being managed, or there will be no national security bill. Call it what you will. National security sabotage. National security suicide. That's what the Democrats are doing. And the soldiers, the men and women in uniform that I met with in South Korea for Thanksgiving, they deserve better. They deserve a president and a Congress committed to strength, peace through strength, and a willingness to get it done. At the beginning of this month, I was honored to attend a Stand With Israel rally on our National Mall. And I gathered there with nearly 300,000 people that came together to talk about the terrorist attacks of October 7th in Israel, what it meant to them, and how we should stand with the state of Israel. And, folks, 300,000 people. And it was peaceful. It was peaceful. No acts of violence. But what have we seen over the course of the last month coming from those that are protesting the actions Israel is taking to defend itself? We have seen a Jewish student in Philadelphia with a burning dormitory door. We have seen a Cornell professor that stated he was exhilarated by the rape and murder of innocent Israelis. We have seen a Stanford professor take all of his Jewish students and force them into a corner to demonstrate how the Palestinians felt and why it was okay that Hamas went after innocent Israelis. Okay, that's what we see coming from these pro-Hamas supporters across the United States. Now, these universities need to get this straight. There is a line between what is free speech, which incites debate, and what is hate speech, which incites violence. So let's be clear, folks. Hamas is a terrorist organization. Hamas went into Israel, ripped babies out of their mothers' wombs, burnt them in ovens. Hamas raped women and killed frail and elderly civilians. That's who Hamas is. Anyone who is standing up and celebrating them is on the wrong side of history. So, folks, my message to these universities, these colleges, and K through 12 schools that assist and enable anti-Semitic hate speech, you should not have federal funding, period. That's not who we are as America. We stand with Israel. Good afternoon. When we left before Thanksgiving, the air went out of the balloon in terms of the pressure of making sure that we got our funding bills together. So now we've pushed it to January. But you know what that gives us? That gives us time to actually work the bills that have already been passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee onto the floor. And what are we doing this week? Nominations. We are not moving forward into regular order where we can consider the bills. For instance, my bill out of Appropriations, the Labor H bill, which is the second largest bill under the purview of the Appropriations Committee, is languishing, waiting to come up to the floor so we can have healthy debate, we can set a Senate marker, and we can work together. We don't have top-line numbers. The leader, Leader Schumer, hasn't even hardly mentioned this in the missives that I've seen that he's put out and the remarks that he has made. And he's squandering good time, resources, and I think the ability for us to really get our work done and set us on a path of frugal responsibility to where we can then become conference and conference with the House. So my call to Senator Schumer today is put these bills on the floor. Many buses, put them together. We already did one. We can do more. We've got time to do it. We've got nothing but nominations coming before us. That's signaling to the American people that this is not important to him and to the Senate. So our leadership on Appropriations, certainly with Senator Collins leading the way for us on the Republican side and Senator Murray, have been, I think, very much joined at the hip here to say regular order on Appropriations, discuss the bills. We've got a little bit more time. There's no reason to push it to January. We should be considering this today. Well, yesterday I was at my home airport getting ready to get on a plane to head back to Washington, D.C. By the way, Montana is beautiful. And as I was spending a little time before I got on the plane, I was chatting with a member of Montana law enforcement who works there at the airport. He told me they had a recent situation where they had a violent person with a criminal background that needed to get on a plane to fly, and they had requested an air marshal that could shadow this potentially violent passenger before they got on the plane. Well, guess what? He told me, and he's had a multi-decade career in law enforcement in Montana, Montana Highway Patrol now working at the airport. He said there were no air marshals available because they've been deployed to the southern border to process illegals coming into the country. Today I'm sending a letter to Secretary Mayorkas demanding answers. It's not the only time that the Biden administration, this unprecedented border crisis, has pulled resources from where they're needed. Look at what just happened last week at the Tucson sector, the Border Patrol. They said they can't post information on social media now because, and I quote, all available personnel is needed to address the unprecedented flow of migrants. We have folks coming across the border who are on the FBI's terror watch list and others who are coming from countries that the State Department has listed as state sponsors of terror. But diverting personnel, air marshals, from the jobs they were trained to do and to protect us is not fixing the problem. It's making it worse. We need policy changes as part of this supplemental that we're debating right now on the United States Senate floor. Walls work. We need to complete President Trump's wall. We need to tighten asylum standards and rein in DHS's parole power. Alec. Would you support legislation to hold up federal funding to colleges unless this issue is addressed? Well, look, I'm a big supporter of the First Amendment. That entitles all of you to say whatever you want to about all of us. And contrary. But, look, it seems to me what we ought to be expecting from college leadership, presidents of colleges and universities, is the truth. And the truth is there is no moral equivalence between what Hamas did and what Israel's doing to defend itself. And yet, it seems to me that's exactly where we've ended up. The one college president who seems to me got it right is our former colleague, Ben Sasse, who's currently president of the University of Florida. It seems to me telling the truth, the facts, is the least we can expect from college leadership. Lead a mind. On Israel funding, Senate Democrats are currently debating this idea of whether to place conditions on the funding. One of the arguments in favor is that Congress does this for nearly every other country that it gives foreign military assistance to. What is your response to that? I think it's ridiculous. Our relationship with Israel is the closest national security relationship we have with any country in the world. And to condition, in effect, our assistance to Israel on their meeting our standards, it seems to me, is totally unnecessary. This is a democracy, a great ally of ours, and I do not think we need to condition the support that, hopefully, we'll give to Israel very soon. Mr. McConnell, should it be that much harder to seek asylum in the country? Well, and you know what that will do? Sure. No. I don't know it. I'm just curious. That makes a lot of sense, because if they were closer in age, then... Okay, great. For McConnell? Oh, I was just talking. Oh. He does. It's made to do that, to get out of your number. If Schumer doesn't come out and stand up, you don't know what I'll do next. You're doing it for me. Somebody wrote that I'm a shusher. Was that you, Manu? I can't take credit. Who wrote I'm a shusher? Someone did. I read it. Who did? How do you spell it? Shusher. Who wrote that I'm a shusher? I don't know how they spelled it. I don't either. Thank you. All right. Hi, everybody. Shh. I want to thank Senators Murray, Reid, and Coons for joining us here, and we have a lot to get done before the end of this year, including a bipartisan national security package. In our supplemental, there are a number of things we have to do at once. Deliver aid to Israel, aid to Ukraine, humanitarian assistance to help innocent victims in Gaza, and military capabilities in the Indo-Pacific. All these national security issues are related and should move together. We are under threat from authoritarians around the world, whether they be in Russia or China or Iran, and Iran-sponsored things like Hamas and Hezbollah. As the Republican leader has noted, America doesn't have the luxury. I agree with the leader on that for sure. America doesn't have the luxury to pick and choose national security threats that befall us. We must address all of them, all of them, because our adversaries, Russia, China, the CPP, Russia, Iran, the CPP, are investing heavily in them, too. But for weeks, long weeks, a handful of Republicans have dangerously tried to link Ukraine aid and make our support for democracy in the West a pivotal issue that history will remember us for, conditional on passing hard-right border policy similar to H.R. 2. Instead, Democrats are working to have a good-faith conversation with Republicans on what both sides can agree on the border. But you can know one thing for sure, that it's the Republicans holding this up by their insistence on an extraneous and partisan issue that there's always difficulty in coming to agreement on. I implore my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stand firmly on the side of history. You're going to give me the opportunity. I implore my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stand firmly on the right side of history, to work in good faith to pass aid for the Ukrainian people as part of our supplemental. Now, also this week, we're going to continue our AI Insight Forums. Tomorrow, we're going to host our seventh forum, focused on two major areas of AI, transparency and intellectual property. Our debate on transparency and explainability will be one of the most important discussions we have to truly fully harness AI's true potential and make this technology understandable to users. For copyright, we'll discuss how creators and inventors can maintain their identities in the age of AI, including how we can protect copyrighted content being used to train AI systems. Now, earlier this morning, a number of senators held a screening of the chilling footage of Hamas's October 7th attack. It was jarring and harrowing. It shook all of us up in the room. I had to go sit in my office for a half hour alone after seeing it. Since that horrific day, anti-Semitic attacks have drastically increased around the world. In the US, anti-Semitic attacks have spiced nearly 400%. Since that devastating day last month, Jewish students on college campuses have been harassed and assaulted. Jewish-owned businesses boycotted and vandalized. A Jewish high school teacher in New York City was forced to hide in a locked office because students demanded her firing simply because they saw her online posting a Stand for Israel poster at a rally. Jews around the world look at instances like these and fear a slippery slope. Too often in our history, legitimate criticism against Israeli policies or other policies has crossed over into something darker, into attacking Jewish people simply because they are Jewish. The solidarity that Jewish Americans, myself included, initially received from our fellow citizens in the aftermath of October 7th has been drowned out by some others, even some we considered allies. As the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in American history, it's an all-too-painful reminder that antisemitism has long seeped below the surface and now has reared its ugly head in painful, blatant, dangerous ways. Tomorrow, I will be giving a major address on the Senate floor on exactly this, the dangerously dark and terrifying trend of antisemitism that is on the rise. I'll speak more about this then. We have more to do to address our needs here and abroad before we leave for the holidays. We're going to continue that work today. Let me call on Senator Murray. Thank you. Well, it is really good that we avoided a senseless and catastrophic shutdown, but we are very far from mission accomplished. It's time now to roll up our sleeves, talk to one another, and get our work done. First of all, we need to pass a robust supplemental package that actually meets this moment by providing urgently needed funding for Ukraine, Israel, humanitarian support, and our allies in the Indo-Pacific. We cannot do just half of our job and essentially tell the world America only stands with some of its allies some of the time. Secondly, we don't want to be back in the same place again with funding in a few weeks, facing a devastating shutdown and no good options. And make no mistake, CRs are better than a shutdown, but they are not a good option. We have to get serious about our full-year funding bills, and that starts with getting on the same page when it comes to our top lines. The good news here is that that negotiating already happened. House Republicans just need to remember the top lines they passed into law under the Fiscal Responsibility Act, a bill that Speaker Johnson actually voted for, along with many other Republicans. And what's more, here in the Senate, we have 12 bipartisan bills Senator Collins and I wrote that follow the terms of that deal. So I hope our colleagues in the House will spare us drama and dysfunction and further brinksmanship. It's not only unnecessary, but it is deeply dangerous. We may not agree on everything, but we can get something done if we put partisanship and poison pills aside. Compromise never means getting your dream bill. It means listening to the other side, making tough decisions, and writing a bill you can actually pass and get signed into law, and it will make a difference for folks back at home. That is exactly how Vice Chair Collins and I have been able to work with members across the political spectrum to craft our 12 bipartisan spending bills, carefully negotiated, and with overwhelming support on both sides of the aisle. Those are bills that can actually become law. I absolutely want Speaker Johnson to join us at the negotiating table so long as he leaves partisanship at the door and is genuinely ready to work in good faith on reasonable bipartisan bills that address the challenges we are seeing around the world and address the needs of families here at home, including child care, WIC, and much more. Thank you. Senator Reid. Thank you, Leader. The NDA is critical to our national security and our military readiness, and I look forward tomorrow, meeting with my House colleagues in person, to begin the process of negotiating a final vote, which we can bring to both chambers. We've already made good progress to that and working with our staffs and working together with my colleagues in the House and my ranking member, Senator Whitmer. We have before us an NDAA that addresses long-term challenges posed by China and Russia and other adversaries. It's a priority of both parties to get this legislation completed. This is a forward-looking NDAA that invests in the people, the platforms, the infrastructure, and the game-changing technologies that will define the future of warfare. And the bottom line is this. Congress has a constitutional duty to provide for the common defense, and that duty is carried out each year for the last 60 years by passing the NDAA. Thanks in large part to Leader Schumer and my colleagues on the Armed Services Committee, we have an NDAA that makes our country safer and stronger and more secure. We're laser-focused on policies and platforms that will prepare our troops to win wars, not to engage in political culture wars. But that has been very difficult while the senator from Alabama is blocking military promotions and harming military families. Hundreds of officers up and down the line have had their careers stuck in limbo as Senator Tuberville continues to block their promotions over a political fight that has nothing to do with them. They were selected on merit, on performance, on service, on dedication, not on political issues. Over the last nine months, he has blocked more than 350 officers, harming our military readiness, leaving critical posts unfilled and forcing many senior workers to work multiple jobs. And for most senior military workers, one job is 24-7. Two jobs are very, very demanding. My colleagues on both sides of the aisles have provided him many off-ramps, but he's rejected every one. And, Joe, just before the Thanksgiving break, the Senate Rules Committee voted to approve a standing order resolution that would allow for a bipartisan majority of senators to override Senator Tuberville's blockade. This is not a rules change. This is a standing order for the remainder of this Congress to provide for an en bloc consideration of military nominations. We're pursuing this route to prevent Senator Tuberville from further harming the United States military at a time of global conflict. This resolution offers every member of the Senate a chance to vote, to either support Senator Tuberville's ploy or overcome his reckless blockade. And I have confidence that senators from both parties will support this resolution. In fact, I commend those of my colleagues in the Republican Party who have stepped forward already and indicated that they want to see these men and women promoted and serving their country at a time of great danger. Our troops deserve better, their families deserve better, and the American people deserve better. Thank you, Leader Schumer, Chair Murray, Chairman Reid. This is an absolutely critical month, the few weeks ahead, for our place in the world, for our support for our critical partners and allies, and for whether or not the United States will be the trustworthy, reliable ally and partner we have so long been. The President sent up weeks and weeks ago a robust supplemental to provide critical, urgently needed aid to Ukraine. Winter isn't coming, winter is here. And we know that, once again, Putin will intend to try and freeze the citizens, the civilians of Ukraine out by attacking relentlessly the energy infrastructure of Ukraine. In fact, just on one day last week, they launched more drone attacks on Kyiv than had happened in months and months. A critical part of that support is direct budget support to the Ukrainian government, which helps pay for the first responders who respond to every bombing attack, who help pay for the repairs to the electrical system, critical to prevent millions of civilians from being hungry and cold in this winter. The supplemental also includes critical aid to Israel, support for our Indo-Pacific partners, which will be strengthened by the passage of the NDAA, as just described by Chairman Reid. But there's one last piece I wanted to mention, humanitarian aid. Right now, there is a global hunger crisis unfolding around the world. We've focused a lot on the need for aid to Ukraine and to Gaza from a humanitarian perspective here. But there are dozens of other countries in our hemisphere, in Southeast Asia, in Africa, in the Middle East, where, because of hunger, there is instability. If we don't also pass the global humanitarian portion of the supplemental, we will fail to meet this moment. As the chair of the Intellectual Property Subcommittee of Judiciary, I'm grateful that Leader Schumer is convening the next in the artificial intelligence roundtables with a bipartisan group that will consider how to protect America's creative community, both copyright, patent, and elsewise. And as the chair of the subcommittee that funds our aid to Israel and our humanitarian aid, I look forward to working with my ranking member, Lindsey Graham, to make sure that the full appropriations process moves forward. As Chair Murray referenced, the Senate passed 12 bipartisan bills. The House has passed none. It is long past time for us to take up and pass critical bills, the full supplemental, the NDAA, and the appropriations package for the year ahead. With the leadership of our caucus, I'm confident we will get that done. Thank you. Thank you, Christopher. Leader Schumer. Yes, we'll take that young lady over there. You got to talk a little louder. Well, we hope to reach an agreement. We do. But we're going to have to pass the four bills, very important for America. And as I said, I'm going to put them on the floor next week. Hopefully with bipartisan support because that's the only way you can get it done. Look, the bottom line is we need a bipartisan bill. And we're working hard to getting it. Republicans are making it difficult, but we're going to keep at it. Yes, yes. But shouldn't there be a difference between those seeking asylum who enter the country legally versus illegally? Look, again, the bottom line is we need a bipartisan bill. Yes. We wrote a conditioning aid to Israel. Is that something that you spoke about in the caucus meeting? Is that something that the majority of Democrats seem to be willing to support? Well, it's been spoken out in our caucus meeting on many occasions. And today there was a meeting with Jake Sullivan on the issue. There are different views on that. And we're going to have to have a discussion with the caucus and the administration. But above all, we got to pass the four bills. That's the number one North Star. Israel, Ukraine, Indochina, and humanitarian aid. Yes. We want to pass. Just like the Biden administration, our caucus feels strongly the four bills should be together. We hope to have a vote next week. Yes, that's the plan. Yes. So are you open to imposing conditions on aid to Israel? Are you personally open to that? The bottom line is I'm going to discuss it with the administration and my caucus. But again, North Star, pass the four bills. Yes. Are you open to supporting legislation to address anti-Semitism on college campuses? And have you been involved in any talks about this? Look, we'd have to look at what legislation is proposed. But listen to my speech tomorrow. Last one. So when you talk about this violence and this anti-Semitism you see in these schools in New York here, and we look at how this is fracturing some parts of the Democratic caucus. There are some progressives, some liberals who are calling the president Genocide Joe. As you say, he's the highest-ranking Jewish official ever. What does that mean for keeping the party together? Okay, the bottom line is listen to my speech tomorrow. I don't think there's any division in our caucus about fighting anti-Semitism. Thank you.