{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=FEB390F2-60EB-4F4D-98AC-7A8D0FBE27E5", "Republicans Work On Border Policy Solutions While Democrats Pitch Blue-State Bailouts", "2023-11-07", "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\u201cAt a hearing last week, the Secretary of Homeland Security told our colleagues that, quote, \u2018ensuring the safety of the American people is a national imperative and a government obligation.\u2019\n\n\u201cSecretary Mayorkas is absolutely right about that. But for someone who understands so clearly the duty of his office, the Biden Administration\u2019s border czar is utterly failing to execute it.\n\n\u201cAfter three straight years of record-shattering overall border apprehensions, the alarming details of the national security crisis unfolding at the southern border on this Administration\u2019s watch are coming into clearer focus.\n\n\u201cLast fiscal year didn\u2019t just set a new all-time record for border apprehensions of individuals on the terror watch list. It saw arrivals from countries beyond Latin America triple.\n\n\u201cCBP personnel are now facing a human wave at the border that \u2013 according to Mexican officials \u2013 hails from 120 different countries and speaks 60 different languages.\n\n\u201cFor three years \u2013 policy choice by policy choice \u2013 the Biden Administration has welcomed this historic flood of illegal immigration\u2026 And set the brave men and women of Customs and Border Protection up for failure.\n\n\u201cAnd it\u2019s abundantly clear that the solution to the Administration\u2019s border crisis is by replacing bad policies with sensible ones. Even Secretary Mayorkas admitted last week that, \u2018policy changes are needed.\u2019\n\n\u201cBut in reality, the supplemental request he\u2019s selling on behalf of the President is much less focused on fixing policy than on throwing money at the problem.\n\n\u201cInstead of shutting off the broken asylum incentives that are driving record arrivals, the Administration wants to pay for faster asylum claim processing, a shower of grant funding for overwhelmed liberal cities that once proudly declared themselves \u2018sanctuary cities\u2019, and as Secretary Mayorkas put it, accelerated \u2018work authorization for eligible non-citizens.\u2019\n\n\u201cWell the Biden Administration\u2019s border crisis has created a fork in the road.\n\n\u201cIn the face of record illegal migration, Democrats are focused on getting more people into our country faster, no matter the cost.\n\n\u201cMeanwhile, Senate Republicans are focused on securing the border and putting the American people back at the forefront of our border policy. I\u2019m grateful to a group of our colleagues \u2013 led by Senator Lankford, Senator Graham, Senator Thune, and Senator Cotton \u2013 who are working hard on proposals to do exactly that.\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=FEB390F2-60EB-4F4D-98AC-7A8D0FBE27E5"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8374741300940514, "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"}