{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=ED744814-EB0F-42CE-B8C5-1029A546D64B", "Sovereign Borders Matter At Home And Abroad", "2023-11-30", "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 national security priorities:\n\n\u201cA good way to size up leaders \u2013 at home and abroad \u2013 is to look at how they treat borders.\n\n\u201cGood leaders recognize sovereignty as the bedrock of national security. As a result, peaceful nations both respect the inviolability of other nations\u2019 borders as well as vigorously defend their own.\n\n\u201cThe world is awash in examples of this fundamental reality.\n\n\u201cVladimir Putin has spent years trampling the sovereignty of his European neighbors. But the people of Ukraine are enduring occupation and torture, and giving their lives to restore their homeland\u2019s lawful borders.\n\n\u201cIran\u2019s network of proxies violates the sovereignty of Israel and its Arab neighbors with horrific terrorist bloodlust.\n\n\u201cBut the people of Israel respond with unwavering resolve to restore security.\n\n\u201cPresident Xi is pouring unprecedented investments into Chinese military power with the express purpose of shattering a sovereign democracy and undermining regional order. But Taiwan and America\u2019s other Asian partners are steeling themselves to deter aggression.\n\n\u201cThe United States has a direct interest in helping our friends maintain their sovereignty \u2013 from Europe to the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific. According to a survey published just today by the Reagan Institute, that\u2019s exactly how overwhelming majorities in this country see it.\n\n\u201cBy this latest account, 65% of Americans support U.S. assistance to Taiwan. 67% support assistance to Ukraine. And 71% support assistance to Israel.\n\n\u201cIn other words, a full two-thirds of the country recognizes the scope of America\u2019s interests and responsibilities as a global superpower.\n\n\u201cAt the same time, vast majorities continue to affirm that national security begins at home. Recent polling shows that even a majority of Democrats say they are at least \u2018very\u2019 concerned about the state of American border security on President Biden\u2019s watch.\n\n\u201cOver 9,000 illegal aliens arrive at our nation\u2019s southern border every day. And thanks to a profoundly broken system of asylum and parole, they know that the vast majority will be waived on through to settle in the interior.\n\n\u201cThe consequences of this crisis touch every corner of our country.\n\n\u201cThe overwhelming task facing border patrol personnel is drawing federal law enforcement personnel off of other important missions to help contend with surging arrivals at ports of entry.\n\n\u201cAs the senior Senator for Missouri revealed yesterday, some officers charged with protecting federal buildings are being sent instead to ferry illegal aliens to and from the hospital.\n\n\u201cThe vast stretches of border in between are seeing massive flows of lethal drugs like fentanyl on their way to poisoning Americans in states across the interior.\n\n\u201cAcross the country, even progressive mayors of self-described \u2018sanctuary cities\u2019 are at wit\u2019s end contending with the human wave heading north.\n\n\u201cThe Biden Administration\u2019s failure to secure our southern border is an embarrassing and dangerous policy failure. Here in the Senate, Democrats are making an embarrassing misjudgment of their own.\n\n\u201cThe Democratic Leader would like us to believe that the defense of sovereign borders is an urgent and noble cause when it takes place overseas\u2026 but an \u2018extraneous\u2019 distraction here at home.\n\n\u201cSome of our colleagues apparently think America can profess to stand for the rule of law without enforcing it on our own soil.\n\n\u201cThe Senate has two weeks to pass supplemental legislation to meet urgent national security priorities.\n\n\u201cThat means time is running out for our Democratic colleagues to recognize that national security begins here at home.\u201d", 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=ED744814-EB0F-42CE-B8C5-1029A546D64B"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7224098555743694, "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"}