{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=97FE49E8-FBB7-461C-979A-D8CFF6BD483B", "McConnell: Democrats Must Get Serious About Fixing Biden Admin. Border Crisis", "2023-11-15", "2023", "2023-11", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", "mcconnell", "https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding the southern border crisis:\n\n\u201cIt is impossible to ignore the crisis at our southern border that\u2019s erupted on Washington Democrats\u2019 watch:\n\n\u201cBack-to-back record-setting years that saw millions upon millions of illegal arrivals at the border. And historic quantities of fentanyl and other lethal drugs pouring across to decimate American communities.\n\n\u201cLet\u2019s remember where this crisis came from.\n\n\u201cPresident Biden campaigned on open-borders policies. His message was so compelling that crowds literally showed up at the southern border with his campaign logo on their shirts. As one put it back then, the President had, \u2018promised us that everything was going to change.\u2019\n\n\u201cVice President Harris hit the campaign trail with a refrain of her own. She said \u2018Say it loud, say it clear, everyone is welcome here.\u2019 And she called the previous administration\u2019s common-sense border security measures, \u2018criminalizing innocent people.\u2019\n\n\u201cWell Mr. President, this is the Administration that canceled commonsense policies like \u2018Remain in Mexico,\u2019 shelved DHS resources meant for border wall construction, and abandoned overstretched border enforcement personnel to contend with a tidal wave of mass migration.\n\n\u201cToday, cleaning up this Administration\u2019s mess at the southern border is matter of urgent national security.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019m grateful to the group of Senate Republicans including Senator Lankford, Senator Graham, and Senator Cotton who have been working in good faith on substantive policy reforms to bring the crisis under control.\n\n\u201cThe goal here is simple: Slow the flow; and stop the catch-and-release asylum system that\u2019s overrunning border communities and blue cities, alike.\n\n\u201cThis crisis isn\u2019t crying out for boatloads of new taxpayer dollars. Just commonsense policy reform.\n\n\u201cUnfortunately, Senate Democrats do not appear ready to admit this reality. They\u2019re apparently not ready to seriously address asylum abuse. And that\u2019s a stance that puts them out of step with even left-leaning governments across the Western world.\n\n\u201cFor example, Germany, which is struggling with an asylum case load costing roughly $53 billion dollars, is exploring trusted third country policies to keep asylum seekers outside its borders while their cases are adjudicated.\n\n\u201cFinland is considering closing some crossing points along its borders as Russia weaponizes migrant flows against the West.\n\n\u201cResponsible people everywhere recognize that enforcing sovereign borders isn\u2019t some hand-wringing moral outrage. In fact, what\u2019s outrageous is refusing to do so!\n\n\u201cThe American people deserve safe streets, stable prices, and secure borders. These are the fundamental responsibilities of any government. But on all counts, the Biden Administration is failing to deliver.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:49:58Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=97FE49E8-FBB7-461C-979A-D8CFF6BD483B"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9037391282618046, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}