▶ 0:16:15Chair Graham: I called the meeting to order. A business quorum is present, sounds good to me. Our work today is to report the legislative recommendation, the committee on homeland security and governmental affairs, we thank senator paul for doing that according to section 310 b of the congressional budget act. No amendments are in order today.
▶ 0:16:47Chair Graham: They will have that opportunity on the senate floor consistent with past practices I will give a statement and then recognize ranking member merkley for his remarks. We will vote to report the legislations. Members will have until 5:00 p.m. Friday, may 22nd to submit their remarks. A quick overview, this includes what will be coming from the judiciary committee on the floor.
▶ 0:17:18Chair Graham: I think we start this tomorrow night, everybody gets hydrated. If I have anything to do with it we will start earlier. We will give everybody a chance to get home. The bill will include $22.5 billion to hire, pay, train personnel to secure our border.
▶ 0:17:46Chair Graham: 30.725 billion dollars to fully fund immigration enforcement mission and keep violent criminal illegal aliens and potential terrorists out of america. 1.4 side billion -- 1.4 seven $5 billion for dod. Personnel to carry out domestic law enforcement investigation which includes investigations into drug trafficking and crimes against children online.
▶ 0:18:20Chair Graham: 3.5 billion to air and marine operations to combat drug trafficking. One billion for the U.S. secret service enhancements. This includes security elements. There will be more. I think this is the right time for us to do this given the threats we face.
▶ 0:18:52Chair Graham: I'm an appropriate her. Unfortunately when it comes to ice border patrol were not able to achieve an outcome and appropriations process so I make this imperative that we make these investments to continue the tremendous success of president trump and his team in securing the border. A 72 billion dollar package will give ice what they need to continue to make us all safe.
▶ 0:19:22Chair Graham: Went that I turn it over to senator merkley.
▶ 0:19:27Sen. Merkley: Thank you very much. We have kind of a pro forma role here and we normally --
▶ 0:19:34Chair Graham: What does that actually mean?
▶ 0:19:38Sen. Merkley: I guess it means we will not be able to have amendments. It would be more interesting if we could. Our normal role here would be to stitched together on the budget process the different pieces coming from different committees. We only have a product from one committee. We are voting on whether to pass that to the floor.
▶ 0:20:04Sen. Merkley: As much affection as I have for my colleagues in south carolina, democrats have a different view of this bill starting with understanding this moment americans are so pressed against the wall. Two weekends ago I held nine town halls across eastern oregon and it probably doesn't surprise you to hear that folks are unhappy. They are unhappy that in our state gas is over five dollars a gallon.
▶ 0:20:35Sen. Merkley: They are unhappy because diesel for the tractors on the farms is over six dollars a gallon. Simultaneously the grocery prices are up and read is up. Inflation is at its highest year-over-year point in three years at three point 8%. Health care is more expensive.
▶ 0:21:00Sen. Merkley: Tax credits that help them by health care in what the president calls his big beautiful bill, many of us feel was the big ugly betrayal. That funded more tax breaks for billionaires at the expense of american families. When families lose, billionaires win proposition. President trump summed it up last week. Maybe truer words have never been spoken.
▶ 0:21:31Sen. Merkley: I don't think about americans financial situation. I don't think about anybody. To get by families are having to turn to credit cards and kevin hassett, the director of the white house economic council said that if americans, credit card spending is through the roof. They are spending more on everything else.
▶ 0:22:02Sen. Merkley: That is ordinary families spending more on credit cards because they can't afford the basics. A big factor driving up the cost of everything is the war in iran . Its effect on energy directly affects the gas at the pump and the diesel. That certainly affects the price of fertilizer for our farmers.
▶ 0:22:29Sen. Merkley: Let's just summarize it by saying that operation epic fury has turned into operation epic fury failure. The president promised to end wars and lower prices but he starting wars and raising prices.
▶ 0:22:48Sen. Merkley: Spirit airlines had 17,000 workers that they don't have now because they are out of business and they are laying them off because of surging jet fuel costs. With the cost of everything rising people have less money to pay rent or mortgage. Home foreclosures are their highest rate in six years.
▶ 0:23:17Sen. Merkley: With all this going on, this special reconciliation bill could be focused on helping families. Trump's goldplated billion dollar ballroom is in the bill. A massive louis the 14th structure that makes the white house look like this auxiliary dwelling unit.
▶ 0:23:43Sen. Merkley: That symbolically tearing down the east wing, the people's house, putting up a structure for four louis the 14th may be a symbol of an authoritarian government. Certainly it is the wrong type of architectural undertaking for a democratic republic.
▶ 0:24:12Sen. Merkley: The rest of this bill, there's not a thing in it for the groceries, the gas, the health care or the housing costs. The something else that the chair mentioned worth emphasizing. We are going down the row of saying the appropriations process might be hard so we will just bypass in reconciliation.
▶ 0:24:44Sen. Merkley: This is planting seeds that will dramatically change the senate and the cooperations between the parties on spending bills. Regardless of the contents of this particular bill, this is another step away from a process where people work hard to find compromise across the aisle. It was created in 1974, there was no division about it.
▶ 0:25:13Sen. Merkley: Every senator present for the vote voted for the bill. You might wonder, robert berg, the defender of the super majority. He voted for this you? Yes, why? The bill had to reduce the deficit. Every senator on both sides of the aisle said that is where they are creating this special pathway.
▶ 0:25:46Sen. Merkley: 22 years later, 1996 the rude republican majority want to do the tax bill. They brought in a new parliamentarian. They asked him to rule the opposite of what everyone had agreed this special process was for. You could increase the deficit. That opened the door to doing tax legislation through reconciliation that increase the deficits. That has happened four times now.
▶ 0:26:19Sen. Merkley: Four massive tax bills creating massive and additional debt. The bill passed last year. How much did that add? $30 trillion over the next 30 years or $50 trillion over the next 30 years if the interest rates are 1% higher.
▶ 0:26:39Sen. Merkley: Now reconciliation is not just being used, it is being used to increase the deficit through regular appropriations style spending. Here we are with this bill that has in it the goldplated but also this massive amount of additional funds for ice and cvp.
▶ 0:27:10Sen. Merkley: Is there something pressing that requires that? They are sitting on $103 billion of funds. That is equal to four years of their normal spending. It is not obligated because they couldn't spend all that money passed last year in the big beautiful bill. There is no necessity for bypassing appropriations at this moment and setting this precedent that is going to damage the process.
▶ 0:27:41Sen. Merkley: I understand the parties go back and forth on who's in the chairmanship. Once you change the use of the processing tools, both parties will take use of it. That is where we are concerned about the impact of doing this now on the future of this body.
▶ 0:28:03Sen. Merkley: I'd love to see a bill before us right now on something that is urgent, not advance funded for another four years and already advance funded like this is. That is not this bill and that is why we will oppose it.
▶ 0:28:24Chair Graham: Number one, we believe this is urgent on our side. We had 11 million people come across our border and a four-year period, pretty much has been a disaster for our country.
▶ 0:28:41Chair Graham: The open borders policy by democratic colleagues supported in earnest obliterated every control we had on our border, waved everybody through that could take one step in america, flying them all over. It has taken a toll on our country. One of the reasons we are in charge is we promised to clean up the mess that was created. The money and this bill is trying to fulfill that promise.
▶ 0:29:12Chair Graham: We absolutely tried to reform it. We could not get there for whatever reason. They have an important job. Also to control illegal immigration, if you want future waves of illegal immigrants to lessen or stop they have to see people leaving. You will entice people to keep coming forever.
▶ 0:29:40Chair Graham: On the border patrol side now is not the time to weaken our border security, we are in a conflict. Those of you on the intel committee probably know better than I, so many threats potential to our country.
▶ 0:30:02Chair Graham: We believe we want to go ahead and fund the border patrol and ice to fulfill the promises we made, to create order out of chaos. That is when we have this bill. We have a different view of necessity priorities and evolutions. With that, anyone else would like to speak.
▶ 0:30:29Sen. Merkley: Since you did characterize our view let me point out.
▶ 0:30:34Chair Graham: It was my view of your view.
▶ 0:30:39Sen. Merkley: It was inaccurate. It was 2013 that the democrats lead an effort to lead the immigration bill that has massive controls at the border. It was bipartisan. The republican house wouldn't hold a single hearing on it. We worked incredibly hard in 2024.
▶ 0:31:00Sen. Merkley: Once again it was presidential politics, we have been fully in support of the rule of law at the border. I hope when the dust clears we could again do a bipartisan bill to take on many issues involved in immigration.
▶ 0:31:32Chair Graham: If you think they were good years for border control, we have a different view. >> as you noted, we have the committee portion here. Is it still your intention to seek to add the ballroom piece when we get to the senate floor? >> we will see how it plays out.
▶ 0:32:05Chair Graham: The hilton episode should wake us all up a little bit. If a democratic president proposed making this place more secure, I would say that makes sense to me. I don't think this is a vanity project at all.
▶ 0:32:29Chair Graham: The president whoever he or she may be would be well served to have a place that could meet the public merit -- more secure. This is the package we are proposing. We have an amendment process. We've had two or three reconciliations. You all phot for your causes.
▶ 0:32:59Chair Graham: You will have a chance to offer amendments and fight for your causes. >> I think as you know using that as an example is a place the press would never have. Given the importance of the separation of the press. I know the president came back from his trip to china.
▶ 0:33:31Chair Graham: I don't think it's a good use of taxpayer dollars. It's in the judiciary commission portion that we learned yesterday of this $1.8 billion/fund. Getting payouts to people who assaulted capitol police officers. Just to signal my intention, we could offer amendments on the floor.
▶ 0:33:58Chair Graham: You may have some support, you never know. >> maybe you would agree we shouldn't be giving payouts.
▶ 0:34:09Chair Graham: You should have every amendment within reason on the floor. That's what will happen. I'm not trying to short-circuit anybody. This is the way you do it. We get the thing going. Tomorrow evening or hopefully earlier in the day we will have a spirited debate about all of that stuff.
▶ 0:34:39Sen. Whitehouse: One additional word on yesterday, that is in addition to what I call the $1.7 billion company, it has virtually no accountability. Delivered the week after police week in washington, ironically.
▶ 0:35:03Sen. Whitehouse: There is a trump amnesty deal hard to figure out how that was negotiated and how you get to a proper case or controversy. It looks like the only signature on the document was todd blanche. I have never seen this. Nobody knows how that was negotiated.
▶ 0:35:34Sen. Whitehouse: Nobody knows how that was the slightest eyeball on that scam. Behind the tax investigation needed to be put to an end. We don't believe the president has ever played any taxes. As soon as the tax audits are over. It is not clear that they existed to begin with.
▶ 0:36:04Sen. Whitehouse: We will see the tax returns as the resident has disclosed. Certainly a midnight deal hidden from the appropriations committee in which the same lawyer seems to be negotiating for both sides of the deal and giving the president and his family personal cover for
▶ 0:36:35Sen. Whitehouse: Whatever tax mischief they have been up to since the beginning of time as I read the document, thank you for letting me add that to senator van hollen's re-march -- remarks.
▶ 0:36:49Chair Graham: Somehow the president's tax returns were released outside the law and he sued, what would you do?
▶ 0:37:06Sen. Van Hollen: The first thing I would do is see if there was ever harm done. To have tax information released , there would be zero harm. I know you want to move forward.
▶ 0:37:26Chair Graham: We will have these debates. If it's ok, I move the committee report the reconciliation bill, is there a second? >> will there be an opportunity to make comments after the vote?
▶ 0:37:42Chair Graham: Absolutely. The eyes barely have it. Yes we could do a recorded vote, absolutely. A roll call vote will be ordered. [taking role]
▶ 0:38:42Chair Graham: The bill will be reported for and reported to the senate. Who wants to speak? I think senator johnson, you are good at about 10:20? >> thank you. I will be quick. This bill in its current form would be to add $70 billion to two agencies.
▶ 0:39:15Chair Graham: I don't think they need this money on top of the $140 billion we just gave them. What better could we do to build homes or lower housing costs and improve childcare affordability. Improve options to reverse snap cuts that $70 billion would go a long way to helping everyday people. Not supercharging an agency that has been dramatically overfunded.
▶ 0:39:46Chair Graham: The money it gets is larger than the militaries of many nations and by far the largest of any law enforcement agency in the united states. This could be much better spent. My colleagues know but I sometimes think for any public interested in this when they hear republicans talk about democrats wanting open borders, we just need to clarify the history.
▶ 0:40:14Chair Graham: It was actually the first year I was here we worked on bipartisan immigration reform from path to citizenship to visa reforms to massive investments in border security. It passed with an overwhelming bipartisan margin here. It went to a republican house with paul ryan as the speaker refusing to take the bill up.
▶ 0:40:45Chair Graham: How different would the world look? They are investments in border security. You and I work together through president trump's first term to offer a proposal to the white house that they told us they would support. With massive investments in border security. We introduced a bill with 16 senators with the white house giving us a thumbs up and a green light.
▶ 0:41:16Chair Graham: We could have invested those dollars. Within 24 hours the white house did a 180. President trump decided he did not like the bill. Yet again the proposal that was bipartisan weighing from this.
▶ 0:41:37Chair Graham: If we had been able to accomplish this bipartisan bill, or if we had been able to accomplish the bipartisan bill in 2018, the situation would look different. Some of the challenges we have seen in the cases that grabs attention it would not have even happened.
▶ 0:41:58Chair Graham: Unless anyone thinks the democrats don't want to work to fund border security, if I add up how much every time I've been here since 2013 I could see my colleague nodding on this it would show of course we are with border security. The right way to do it is even 2018. We could find a bipartisan path.
▶ 0:42:26Chair Graham: Reconciliation is an attractive item because it allows one side to do whatever it wants. This is an issue where we have some common cause. I will oppose the unilateral effort to put my money into agencies. Thank you.
▶ 0:42:46Chair Graham: >> I too oppose this for the same reasons and I want to add what senator kaine said. We worked really hard in the negotiations originally to get some common sense reform into ice. Things like having training longer than 48 days.
▶ 0:43:13Chair Graham: So they learn how to de-escalate rather than murder people on the street. So they have id and somebody new so they could be identified for a number of reasons. . These were common sense things that we were asking for. Who refused every single time every common sense we made?
▶ 0:43:43Chair Graham: Now what we have is a giant package that benefits only donald trump and stephen mueller. Republicans are pushing a package of $70 billion for three years on funding ice and border patrol without any additional training with common sense, things we believe the american people are asking for today.
▶ 0:44:14Chair Graham: No police officer should be able to bust in your door and haul you out without a warrant. No one should be able to shoot people in the streets without letting us know who they are or why they are there without the training. Instead of working with some common sense reforms, you are putting a bill on the floor that requires republicans to vote for , $472 billion.
▶ 0:44:47Chair Graham: Who else is happy is donald trump. I want to share the comments we have heard. I go home and hear the same thing. Gas prices, health care costs. All of the energy prices people are paying, the tariffs that were passed that are impacting everybody's pocketbooks. What are republicans putting on the floor? A giant package that addresses none of that.
▶ 0:45:17Chair Graham: I think we make choices here about what we will fight for. What the republicans are telling us today is they will fight for a giant ballroom for this president and not for the american people. Thank you.
▶ 0:45:35Sen. Padilla: I want to appreciate myself with the comments. My colleagues on the democratic side calling out the history of bipartisan efforts on immigration reform recruiting sensible border security. I want to remind us all since this is a budget committee that we often say that budget documents are reflections of our values and of our priorities.
▶ 0:46:08Sen. Padilla: This is a pretty damming picture of how out of touch our republican colleagues are with working families across america. Families are struggling. Costs are rising. Costs are spiking. 3.8% inflation, five dollars per gallon gas at the pump. The largest single month spike in grocery costs.
▶ 0:46:38Sen. Padilla: The highest levels of premiums ever. How do republicans propose to help working families? They don't. Let's give ice $72 billion more. So much for fiscal responsibility.
▶ 0:47:02Sen. Padilla: This is $72 billion on top of 103 billion dollars they have been given previously that they are still sitting on. They have been given so much money they can't spend it fast enough. They want to give them more. Let's go back to what our constituents are saying. It's not just in washington, california, it's across the country. They are waking up wondering I wonder if ice and cbp will do this today.
▶ 0:47:31Sen. Padilla: They are trying to make ends meet. They will twist the action of those next couple days and accused democrats of defunding the police again. That is not true. We voted in the past and are simply insisting that if we will give additional dollars to ice and cbp, some things have to change.
▶ 0:48:02Sen. Padilla: We need reforms, we need changes for how they are going about their job. What people are saying is chaos on the streets, renée good, alex pretti, ruben ray martinez, not undocumented immigrants, united states citizens killed by immigration agents.
▶ 0:48:33Sen. Padilla: We have heard about the separation of children from their parents again. We've heard about horrible conditions in detention centers ongoing. We've heard not just from our constituents but from 425 federal judges including judges appointed by donald trump who have ruled that ice's actions are illegal and unconstitutional and in many cases have
▶ 0:49:05Sen. Padilla: Undermined basic due process. The administration has lost 10,000 times in court. That is a 90% loss rate. If any other department or agency was failing to do their job 90% of the time congress would be demanding oversight and accountability. Consequences for those in charge.
▶ 0:49:34Sen. Padilla: No, because donald trump does not want that, republican colleagues are happy to go along with whatever he wants. It is throwing a ball room while we are at it. A ballroom that if I recall he promised to build in donations. $400 million being committed, maybe even collected.
▶ 0:50:05Sen. Padilla: Despite the private money being out there. Now he wants taxpayers to foot the bill. We could be spending that money in ways to help families. How about restoring some of the snap cuts. How about the farmers who supply the food. How about reinvesting in health care. How about reinvesting in childcare or repairing highways and bridges. The child tax credit.
▶ 0:50:36Sen. Padilla: It's a lot better use for the money that republican colleagues are seeking to spend here. To sum it all up, he didn't think about americans financial situations and did this reconciliation package show it, thank you. >> just a quick rebuttal.
▶ 0:51:05Sen. Padilla: I didn't come prepared with a long list of victims of illegal immigrant crime, a very long list. I don't have the list of the hundreds of thousands of children lost, shuffled through the system in the hands of sex traffickers. This administration is trying to do everything they can. Those are the names that should be mentioned as well.
▶ 0:51:35Sen. Padilla: Any other senator wished to make,? If not there is no further business. They have until 5:00 p.m. On friday, may 22 to submit written remarks, print to the committee clerk. I ask unanimous consent that staff make necessary technical and performing changes to the bill. Without objection, the meeting is adjourned.