John Thune

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso), the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Cramer), the Senator from Montana (Mr. Dains), the Senator from Nebraska (Mrs. Fischer), the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Hagerty), the Senator from Mississippi (Mrs. Hyde-Smith), the Senator from Wyoming (Ms. Lummis), and the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Tuberville).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Hagerty) and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso), the Senator from West Virginia (Mrs. Capito), the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Cramer), the Senator from Montana (Mr. Daines), the Senator from Nebraska (Mrs. Fischer), the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Hagerty), the Senator from Mississippi (Mrs. Hyde-Smith), the Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. Johnson), the Senator from Wyoming (Ms. Lummis), the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Risch), and the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Tuberville).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, 10,109--the number of people who were apprehended trying to come across the border illegally yesterday. Those are the people who were caught. That doesn't count the people who got away and who Customs and Border Patrol know got away. Then there are all the unknown ``got-aways.'' But over 10,000 people in a single day were apprehended trying to come across our southern border illegally. To annualize that, again, you are talking 3\1/2\ to 4 million people a year. Four million people is larger than 24 States in the United States of America. That is the dimension of the problem that we are talking about and that we are trying to get the White House and the Democrats here in the Senate to focus on and address. I don't think it is a surprise that Democrats aren't interested in making the illegal immigration crisis at our southern border a priority. After all, the President and Democrats have spent almost 3 years now ignoring, minimizing, or actively abetting this crisis. But over the past few days, we have had a chance to see the true depth of their animosity to border security, because it has become increasingly clear that the Democrats are so opposed to serious border security measures that they are willing to sacrifice aid to Ukraine and other allies, including Israel, in order to keep the border open. That is right. The Democrats are holding up an aid package for our allies because they are not willing to take meaningful steps to secure our border. Now, I strongly support aid to allies like Ukraine and Taiwan and believe that supporting these nations is in our national security interest, and Republicans have been ready to take up the national security supplemental for weeks. But we have asked for one thing--just one thing. We have asked that, while we are looking after our national security interests abroad, we also address the national security crisis here at home, that we give the safety of the American people the same priority as the safety of our allies. National security begins at home, and we have an obligation to the American people to address the crisis at our southern border that is threatening the security of our Nation. And while it is hard to understand how any Democrat can fail to understand the gravity of the situation at our southern border, let me just run through some of those numbers again. We have had three successive recordbreaking years of illegal immigration at our southern border under President Biden. In October 2023, which is the latest month for which we have data, U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered 240,988 migrants at our southern border, which is the highest October number ever recorded. That is nearly a quarter of a million individuals in just one month. Last Tuesday, as I mentioned, there were a staggering 12,000-plus encounters at our southern border, the highest daily total ever recorded. That was followed by 2 days of 10,000-plus encounters. As I said, yesterday, the number was once again up over 10,000. In fiscal year 2023, the Border Patrol apprehended 169 individuals on the Terrorist Watchlist, at the southern border, attempting to illegally enter our country--169 people on the Terrorist Watchlist. That number is more than the total of the previous 6 fiscal years combined. During October 2023 alone, more than 1,500 individuals who had previously been convicted of a crime were apprehended by the Border Patrol. More than 90 of them had outstanding warrants for their arrest. And the Border Patrol apprehended--get this--50 gang members. Think about that: people on the Terrorist Watchlist, people who have warrants out for their arrest, 1,500 individuals who had previously been convicted of a crime, and 50 gang members. You can't make this stuff up. Where is the outrage? This is insanity--the risk that we are putting our country at, the threat that this represents to the safety of the American people. And, again, those numbers are just for October. There is no question that many illegal immigrants are coming to the United States in search of a better life. We know that. But there is equally no question that there are bad people, dangerous people, trying to make their way into our country, and some of them may already be here. The numbers I have referred to only cover individuals who have actually, as I said, been apprehended, but a staggering number of people have made their way into our country during the Biden administration without being apprehended. In fact, during the last fiscal year, there were 670,000 known ``got-aways,'' and those are individuals that the Border Patrol saw but was unable to apprehend. Now, to put that number into perspective, that is more than three times the number of people in the most populated city in my home state of South Dakota. And it is highly likely that among those ``got-aways'' were dangerous individuals who should not be taking up residence in our country. As the Director of the FBI reminded us in his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month, it doesn't take many dangerous people to cause a lot of devastation, and the crisis at our southern border is creating a situation that could allow not just a few but a lot of dangerous individuals to enter our country. And so, while a lot of us Republicans are ready and eager to take up aid to allies like Ukraine, we will continue to insist that any national security supplemental address not just the security needs of our allies abroad, or helping them defend their borders, but the security needs of the American people here at home, by defending our border. So the ball is in the Democrats' court. They can work with Republicans to address the national security crisis at our southern border in the supplemental appropriations bill or they can continue to sacrifice aid to our allies in order to keep the southern border open. It is their choice. It is really that simple. Democrats have already jeopardized our ability to get anything done before Christmas. For the sake of Ukraine and our other allies, I hope they decide to work with Republicans sooner rather than later. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Young). Further, if present and voting: the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Young) would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, this week, the Senate will vote on the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, which is one of the most important bills we consider each year. We had a robust floor debate on the Senate version of this bill in July featuring the kind of open amendment process we should be using on a regular basis to debate important legislation. All told, more than 900 amendments were considered, and 121 amendments were adopted during floor consideration, making this the most open NDAA floor debate in years. I wish we had been able to take up a final version of this legislation earlier, but I am glad we are on track to finally pass it this week. I have said it before, and I will say it again. If we don't get national security right, the rest is conversation. The security of our Nation is the precondition for everything else--for the continued enjoyment of our freedoms, for a flourishing society, for a healthy economy, for government's ability literally to do anything. So there is no time when we can afford to let our readiness slide or to take the security of our Nation for granted. But the unfortunate truth is that we have some catching up to do when it comes to military preparedness. We have military services that are well below their recruitment targets. We are behind on shipbuilding and ship maintenance. There is a persistent pilot shortage, and in a number of cases, we have too few mission-capable aircraft. We are not doing an adequate job of maintaining the kind of supply we need of certain munitions. And the list goes on. This is not an acceptable situation, and it could have very serious consequences. To give just one example, recent war games envisioning a U.S.-China conflict following an attack on Taiwan have had grim results, showing enormous military and economic costs to both sides. One story on these war games noted: And while the ultimate outcome in these exercises is not always clear--the U.S. does better in some than others--the cost is [clear]. In every exercise the U.S. uses up all its long-range air-to-surface missiles in a few days, with a substantial portion of its planes destroyed on the ground. In every exercise the U.S. uses up all its long-range air- to-surface missiles in a few days, with a substantial portion of its planes destroyed on the ground. Well, needless to say, we have some serious work to do, and I am pleased to report that this year's NDAA does make some genuine progress on the readiness front. The bill expands the Pacific Deterrence Initiative and deepens our ties with our ally Taiwan to help detour Chinese aggression. It rejects the President's dangerous plan to shrink the U.S. Navy and authorizes investment in new ships. It contains multiple measures to increase our supply of munitions, including the addition of six critical munitions to the Pentagon's multiyear procurement program. Two of these munitions--Tomahawk missiles and Mark 48 torpedoes--play an important role in our ability to deter China. I am also pleased that the committee responded to my request and included significant funding for joint air-to-surface standoff missile procurement, the long-range anti-ship missile, and development of the nuclear long-range standoff weapon, or LRSO. These are essential arrows to have in the quiver for our bombers, and the future LRSO will help modernize the air leg of our nuclear triad. This year's NDAA also critically invests in recruitment. As I mentioned earlier, we have multiple military services that are well below their recruitment targets. These represent serious future personnel deficiencies. All the ships, planes, and munitions in the world will be of very limited help if we don't have the personnel necessary to deploy these resources. So expanding and improving our recruitment efforts has to be a priority. We also have to continue to work to improve the quality of life of our military members and their families, which is why I am pleased to report that this year's bill includes a 5.2-percent pay increase for our troops, as well as measures to improve barracks quality and expand access to mental health care, among other things. I am also pleased that this year's NDAA takes measures to keep our military's focus warfighting and not the dissemination of woke ideologies by Pentagon bureaucrats. Above all, I am proud to report that this year's bill authorizes full funding for the next steps of the B-21 mission, the Air Force's new, long-range, strategic bomber, which will revolutionize our long-range strike capabilities and be hosted at South Dakota's own Ellsworth Air Force Base. The Air Force calls the B-21 Raider the future backbone of its bomber force. One of my top priorities here in Congress over the past several years has been ensuring that the Air Force--and Ellsworth in particular--has everything it needs for this critical advancement in our Nation's readiness. This year's NDAA will once again fund not only the B-21 bomber, which we excitedly saw take flight 1 month ago, but the support facilities at Ellsworth that will be needed to maintain this aircraft once it enters service. While, as I said, we are passing this bill a little late, I am pleased that we are finally passing it and in what I expect will be a strongly bipartisan fashion.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: The Senator from Indiana (Mr. Young). Further, if present and voting: the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Young) would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso), the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch), and the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Young). Further, if present and voting: the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Young) would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Cramer), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), and the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Rounds).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, if Democrats were unsure about Republicans' seriousness about including meaningful border security provisions in the national security supplemental, yesterday's vote made it crystal clear. Every single Senate Republican rejected Democrats' collective attempt to bury their heads in the sand and pretend that what is happening at our southern border isn't a threat to our security. Border security is national security, which is why any national security supplemental that moves through this Chamber must tackle this crisis head-on. On Tuesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and told Members: I've never seen a time where all the threats or so many of the threats are all elevated all at exactly the same time. Senator Graham then asked Wray to comment on the threat environment using the blinking red lights analogy often used about warnings before the September 11 attacks. And Director Wray responded: I see blinking lights everywhere I turn. ``I see blinking lights everywhere I turn.'' It is against the background of this threat environment that Republicans are asking Democrats to finally--and I say finally--help secure our border. We have endured 3, now, recordbreaking years of illegal immigration at our southern border under President Biden, and the situation is only getting worse. Tuesday saw a staggering 12,000 migrant encounters at our southern border--12,000 in just 1 day. That is 8 people per minute, and that follows 2 days of 10,000-plus encounters. I am not sure how anyone can look at these numbers and not think this is a crisis. Plus, those numbers don't count any ``got-aways''--those are individuals the Border Patrol saw but was unable to apprehend--who may have made their way across the border during that same period. The month of October saw an average of roughly 1,000 ``got-aways'' per day. That is roughly 30,000 unknown individuals who made their way into our country--30,000 in just 1 month. All told, there have been more than 1.7 million known ``got-aways'' on President Biden's watch, not to mention an unknown number of unknown ``got-aways.'' These ``got-aways'' are not the migrants who are showing up, hoping to be apprehended because they know they can game the asylum or parole system. No--these are individuals bent on avoiding detection, which should concern us deeply. Anyone who doesn't think bad actors are attempting to exploit the situation at our southern border needs to think again. During fiscal year 2023, the Border Patrol apprehended 169 individuals on the Terrorist Watchlist attempting to make their way across our southern border into our country. That number, by the way, is more than the total of the previous 6 fiscal years combined. FBI Director Wray noted at that same Judiciary Committee hearing that since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, the threat level has gone to ``a whole other level.'' Abroad, American troops have been attacked nearly 80 times since October 7. It is naive to think that there aren't terrorists out there currently trying to make their way into the United States to attack our country. Why wouldn't any terrorist trying to enter our country take advantage of the chaos at our southern border? You don't have to take my word for it. The Department of Homeland Security, in its threat assessment released in September, noted the risk that ``terrorists and criminal actors may exploit the elevated flow [of migration] and increasingly complex security environment to enter the United States.'' That assessment was written before--before-- the October 7 attack or the many attacks on U.S. troops abroad that followed it. If there was a risk before, I think it is safe to say that there is an even greater risk now. This situation cannot continue. The massive flood of illegal immigration at our southern border has to stop, and that is why the national security supplemental must contain real measures to secure the border--not cosmetic fixes, not superficial tweaks, real border security measures. I believe it is in our national security interests to support allies like Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine, but we cannot support American interests abroad while continuing to sacrifice the security of the American people here at home. For 3 years, the Biden administration has put out a de facto welcome mat at our southern border. If we want to protect our country, that has to stop, and it has to stop now. I yield the floor.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn), the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Cramer), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), and the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Rounds). Further, if present and voting: the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran) would have voted ``yea''.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Cramer), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), and the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Rounds).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, later today, the Senate will take a vote on whether or not to move to consideration of the national security supplemental bill. And make no mistake, this vote will fail. Not because Republicans oppose supporting our national security interests overseas but because Democrats are refusing to take seriously the national security crisis here at home. From the beginning, Republicans have made it clear that any national security supplemental would have to address one of the biggest threats to our national security, the out-of-control illegal immigration at our southern border. And when I say ``out of control,'' just look at the numbers. Yesterday, 12,000 people were apprehended at our southern border trying to come into our country illegally--not including the ``got-aways,'' not including the unknowns--over 12,000 people, which, I think, is an alltime, one-day high. Most ever. In history. And think about that annualized. We are now talking about on the order of 4 million people annually coming across our southern border, being released into the country, coming across illegally. When is this a crisis? This is a crisis. It is a humanitarian crisis. It has been that for a long time. But now--now it is a national security crisis because among those 12,000 people are some pretty unsavory characters. There are people who are coming here for a better life, but there are a lot of people who are being apprehended now at our southern border. Some of whom are on the Terrorist Watchlist. This is a crisis that needs to be dealt with, and it seems to be falling on deaf ears at the White House and among my colleagues here, Democratic colleagues in the U.S. Senate. We have put forward meaningful ideas and solutions about how to deal with this, and yet crickets. Nobody seems to want to confront what is a major, major debacle at our southern border. That is 12,000, one day--a new American record of people trying to come into this country illegally. Why? Because this administration doesn't seem to care or want to do anything about stopping or reducing that flow across our southern border. It is a staggering number. And just to put it in perspective, Jeh Johnson, who was the Department of Homeland Security Secretary to President Obama, once said that a thousand a day would overwhelm the system--a thousand a day. He went on to say: I can't even comprehend what 4,000 a day would look like. Yesterday was 12,000. Now, if you sustain that rate, annualize that rate, as I said, you are talking about 4 million people annually being released into this country. And you have heard from countless now, not just Members on my side of the aisle or overcrowded communities on the southern border or members of the Customs and Border Patrol who are underwhelmed and underresourced and undermanned down there to deal with this crisis. But you are hearing from cities in the interior of this country-- large cities--who are complaining about not being able to deliver basic services to their constituents now because they are having to deal with a migrant inflow into their communities--New York City being one notable example. The mayor of New York City says he would have to freeze hiring police officers, he would have to close libraries, and cut education funding to keep up with this massive, massive inflow of people who are coming into this country who need to be cared for. So let me just say, this is not an extraneous issue, which is what the Democrat leader suggested last week. Border security is a national security issue, and anyone who thinks that our Nation can be secure while we have hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants pouring over our southern border each month needs to think again. The month of October, 240,988 individuals were encountered at our southern border. That was the highest October number ever recorded. But on top of that, the month of October saw an average of 1,000 ``got- aways'' per day, individuals the Border Patrol saw but was unable to apprehend. That is 30,000 unidentified individuals entering our country in just 1 month--30,000. And there is no telling how many unknown ``got-aways''--these are known ``got-aways''--how many unknown ``got-aways'' there were during that same period. And there is no question that some of those ``got- aways'' were dangerous individuals who should not be entering the country. During fiscal year 2023, there were 169 individuals on the Terrorist Watchlist who were apprehended attempting to illegally cross our southern border. That was fiscal year 2023, which ended September 30, 169 in 1 year. Well, if the numbers continue to ramp up--and you look at the daily numbers we are encountering now, you know that number is going to go up significantly as well. Because why? People have figured out, you want to get into the United States, come across our southern border. And thousands of what are known as--what we call special interest aliens, those individuals who may pose a threat to the United States, have been apprehended trying to illegally cross our southern border over the past 2 years. Then there have been the criminals who are trying to make their way into the United States, and those range from drug traffickers to child predators. One border reporter noted last month: Border Patrol's Del Rio Sector has arrested at least 21 child sex predators crossing illegally since the new fiscal year began on October 1. Twenty-one child sex predators in a single sector of our southern border. And, again, all of these numbers I am mentioning only refer to individuals who have actually been apprehended. With 30,000 unknown individuals entering the United States in October alone, there is no telling how many terrorists, how many criminals, how many other dangerous individuals have made their way into our country without our knowledge. So I think it is fair to say that the issue of border security is not ``extraneous'' but is, in fact, fundamental to our national security and something that the Democrat leader ought to realize. Indeed the fact that New York City, as I mentioned, is currently facing across-the-board cuts to its city services, including a staggering 13.5-percent cut to its police force--to its police force-- as a result of the migrant crisis should be all the information the majority leader needs to realize that our current situation is not sustainable, even without the national security risk imposed by unchecked illegal immigration. Now, I support aid to Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine, and I believe it is in our national security interest to support these allies. So I want to see us take up this national security supplemental, but national security begins at home. And we can't pass a bill to advance American interests abroad while ignoring the national security crisis at our own border. We owe the American people better than that. And the Democrat leader needs to understand the Republicans are serious. We have said all along that this national security supplemental must address the national security crisis at our border, and we will continue to hold that principle. And while we recognize that in a negotiation, neither side will get everything it wants, the final border security component in this supplemental must have real teeth. Cosmetic measures are not acceptable. We can't afford anything less than real solutions to our Nation's border crisis. Ten thousand-plus individuals were encountered at our southern border on Sunday, another 10,000 on Monday. It went up to 11,000. And as I said yesterday, now 12,000 in a single day. Things are getting worse, not better. We have an obligation to do everything we can to get this crisis under control--this administration, as I said, something they have had no interest in doing. So I will vote against moving the supplemental while it lacks serious border security policy changes, and I hope that today's failed vote will clearly demonstrate to our Democratic colleagues that there will be no national security supplemental without the kind of border security measures that we need to keep our Nation secure. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, $11,434--that is how much more a typical family has to spend today to maintain the same standard of living they had at the beginning of the Biden administration--$11,434. That is a lot of money. Needless to say, it is money that a lot of Americans don't have. Nearly 3 years of high inflation has taken its toll. Americans are exhausted from constant price hikes, and they are struggling to keep pace with the huge increase in their cost of living. One recent news story noted: Since early 2020, prices have risen about as much as they had in the full 10 years preceding the health emergency. Let me just repeat that. Since early 2020, prices have risen about as much as they had in the full 10 years preceding the health emergency. In other words, we have had 10 years of price increases packed into the last 4 years. The lion's share of those increases has occurred during the Biden administration. Since President Biden took office, the price of groceries has risen by almost 21 percent, gas prices have risen by 54.8 percent, electric bills are up almost 25 percent, car repairs and maintenance are up 26.5 percent, rent is up 18 percent, and the list goes on. Unfortunately, at this point, it is clear that today's high prices are here to stay. Inflation didn't come out of nowhere. Inflation is the result of too many dollars chasing too few goods and services. That is exactly the situation the Biden administration and Democrats helped create in 2021. The President's first major piece of legislation was a massive and partisan $1.9 trillion spending bill filled with unnecessary spending and handouts to Democrat interest groups. The bill flooded the economy with unnecessary government money, and the economy overheated as a result--no big surprise there. Almost 3 years down the road, we are still dealing with the inflation crisis the President and Democrats helped create. So it should come as no surprise that the President's ``Bidenomics'' pitch--his attempt to sell the American people on his economic record--is falling flat, even among members of his own party. A substantial majority of Americans have a negative view of the economy. Fifty-five percent of voters say they are worse off financially under President Biden, and a large percentage are cutting back on spending to make ends meet. President Biden claims that ``Bidenomics is just another way of saying `the American Dream.' '' Well, for a lot of Americans, Bidenomics has proved to be less dream and more nightmare because the reality is that under Bidenomics, working Americans are struggling to get by. They are tapping into their savings. They are taking on more debt. They are falling behind on car payments or other bills. Increasingly, one key measure of the American dream, which is owning your own home, is out of reach for many Americans. The higher interest rates the Federal Reserve was forced to put in place to help rein in President Biden's inflation crisis has meant more expensive mortgages, which, combined with higher home prices, have eroded home buyers' purchasing power. A recent NBC news article reported: [I]n late 2020, the monthly mortgage payment on a typical, newly sold home was around $1,100 in principal and interest. It's now about twice that. It is now about twice that. On the car-buying front, Americans are facing loan rates last seen, as one article noted, during the great recession. And soaring credit card interest rates are making it difficult for Americans to afford their credit card bills much less make progress in paying them off, a situation not helped, of course, by the fact that many Americans have had to turn to their credit cards to help them get by--get by--under Bidenflation. Under the Biden administration, Americans can't catch a break. President Biden has spent a lot of time talking about giving families ``a little bit of breathing room.'' But the reality of Bidenomics is that a lot of families have seen their breathing room disappear. Perhaps the President should remember that before he gives another speech touting his economic record. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso), the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Braun), the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Hawley), the Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. Johnson), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch), the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio), and the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Tuberville). Further, if present and voting: the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Hawley) would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, before I begin, there is something I want to address today. I just want to make an observation about this discussion we are having on our southern border. I would reiterate what I have been saying now for some time, and that is that it is no longer just a humanitarian crisis. It is every bit of that, but it is a national security crisis. We see the numbers on a daily basis, the number of people who are apprehended at the southern border trying to come into the country illegally. In the last 3 days--the last 3 days--that is over 9,000 per day--over 9,000 per day, and that doesn't include the ``got-aways'' or the unknowns. That is the people who are apprehended coming across the border illegally. And we now know that, in the month of September, for example, there were a significant number of people--18, actually-- apprehended coming across the southern border, who are on the Terrorist Watchlist. People coming from all over the world have figured out that, if you want a portal, if you want to get into the United States, just come to the southern border, and we will wave you in, which is essentially what is happening today. And the question I would ask is, In what universe does that make any sense? I said this yesterday: We are a nation of immigrants. We have been a very welcoming country. We have ways of bringing people into this country legally, and we do that on an annual basis. But we are a nation of laws, first and foremost. The rule of law is what distinguishes our country from many other countries around the world, and yet, at our southern border, that doesn't mean a thing. Over 9,000 a day--annualize that. Think about what that means. That is 3 million people a year. And we have people who want to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to it. We have an opportunity in this national security supplemental bill that will be on the floor perhaps as early as next week. It will deal with issues like Ukraine, issues like Israel--what is happening there-- and the Indo-Pacific, where we have national security interests at stake. We have to deal with the national security crisis at our southern border. This is insanity. I don't understand it. I don't understand the administration. I don't understand some of my colleagues here in the Senate who feel like this isn't something that we need to be dealing with or addressing. This is a national security crisis on a daily basis--over 9,000 the last 3 days in a row--and, again, some of which we know, because they are catching them, are people on the Terrorist Watchlist. In what universe does what is being done at our southern border make sense to anybody, to any rational person? It doesn't make sense to the mayor of New York City or the mayor of Chicago, where, as migrants arrive there, they are having to divert resources to address that. The mayor of New York City said he was going to freeze hiring police officers in New York City. That seems like that would be a problem, if I were a New York City resident. He said he was going to have to close libraries and cut funding for education. That is what we are talking about. This is not just an issue that affects communities on the southern border, although I have been down there a number of times, and, believe me, they are profoundly affected. This is an issue where every State becomes a border State, as literally thousands of people on a daily basis are released into the interior of the United States--waved by, with no regard or respect for our heritage as a nation of laws in a country that is built upon a foundation of the rule of law. It has to be fixed. It has to be done, and it needs to be done now, and I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and our folks at the White House understand that. We can't wait any longer. This is out of control.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Cramer).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Cramer) and the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Tuberville).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz) and the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Hawley).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz).