Remark | Remarks | THE NEWSROOM | Republican LeaderSkip to primary navigation Skip to content×Close THE NEWSROOMRemarks Press Releases The Leader Board Op-Eds Videos SENATE RESOURCESRepublican Senators Committees Congressional Record Congress.gov Senate Floor Webcast ABOUT LEADER McCONNELL×Close THE NEWSROOMRemarks Press Releases The Leader Board Op-Eds Videos SENATE RESOURCESRepublican Senators Committees Congressional Record Congress.gov Senate Floor Webcast ABOUT LEADER McCONNELLxxsearchxMENUFacebookTwitterInstagramFacebookTwitterInstagramVisit Senator McConnell's site here THE NEWSROOMRemarks Press Releases The Leader Board Op-Eds Videos SENATE RESOURCESRepublican Senators Committees Congressional Record Congress.gov Senate Floor Webcast ABOUT LEADER McCONNELLxxsearchxMENUHomeTHE NEWSROOMRemarks11.29.23Border Security Essential, Not Extraneous, To National Security‘[T]he Biden Administration’s open borders will rank among its biggest national security failures. Plain and simple. But if Senate Democrats refuse to take border security policy changes seriously, they’ll also be wrapping American weakness up as a Christmas gift to Russia, China, and Iran.’ WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding national security priorities:“Border security is national security. That’s not just a statement of legislative priorities or partisan politics. It’s a fact of human history.“The Senate has little more than two weeks to deliver supplemental legislation on four urgent national security priorities. And each one of them deals directly with questions of borders and sovereignty.“For over a decade, Putin has been trying to redraw the borders of Europe. He’s invaded and occupied Georgia and Ukraine.“He’s attempted assassinations and influence operations on foreign soil. And he’s exploited humanitarian crises to weaponize migrant flows in Europe, including most recently at the border of Finland.“Meanwhile, the Hamas terrorists who rule Gaza violated sovereign borders on their way to slaughtering 1,200 Israelis and taking hundreds more hostage.“These savages’ stated objective is to erase the borders of the state of Israel, ‘from the river to the sea’.“China, for its part, is also keenly focused on challenging borders. The PRC has used force in an attempt to gain the upper hand along its border with India.“It’s expanded its military footprint in the South China Sea and threatened to resolve long-standing territorial disputes with multiple neighbors by force.“And China’s historic investments in military modernization are aimed at threatening Taiwan’s sovereignty and bringing the island to heel.“Borders matter. Sovereignty matters. The United States is a global superpower with global interests. And we have an interest in preventing autocrats and terrorists from trampling the borders of Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific.“Because if we leave them unchecked, these aggressors will keep challenging borders and keep starting wars.“Borders are intrinsically and universally about a nation’s security. Controlling and defending them is the essential predicate of sovereignty. So it’s not by accident that, in addressing urgent national security priorities, Senate Republicans are working so hard on policy changes to restore security to America’s own borders.“Trying to clean up the Biden Administration’s border crisis isn’t some arbitrary interest. That is, unless you ask the Democratic Leader.“According to the senior Senator for New York, the national security crisis his party has abetted at the southern border is ‘extraneous’ to the national security supplemental before the Senate.“The way our colleague sees it, securing our own borders as we help our allies and partners defend their sovereignty would be dangerous.“Dangerous.“Here in the real world, what’s dangerous is denying the humanitarian and national security crisis festering at America’s southern border on President Biden’s watch.“What’s dangerous is accepting the record numbers of illegal aliens surging across our borders as the new normal.“What’s dangerous is defending open borders and a broken asylum and parole system even at the risk of urgent assistance to our partners in Ukraine, Israel, and Asia.“The Biden Administration’s open borders will rank among its biggest national security failures. Plain and simple.“But if Senate Democrats refuse to take border security policy changes seriously, they’ll also be wrapping American weakness up as a Christmas gift to Russia, China, and Iran.“Borders are an essential element of national security. They are not extraneous. “We must secure and defend sovereign borders, beginning right here at home.“If we fail to uphold this basic, fundamental responsibility, America and our friends around the world will pay dearly.”###Related Issues: National Security, Israel, Ukraine, Russia, Border Security, China, IranPrintEmailTweetPreviousTHE NEWSROOMSENATE RESOURCESABOUT LEADER McCONNELLFacebookTwitterInstagram
