Murphy: Democrats Deliver for American Families while Republicans Cut Taxes for the Rich, Play Games with National Security
Floor Speech
"Mr. President, I will admit that I have some level of confusion when I listen to my Republican colleagues come to the floor and register their complaints when matched against the actual policy position that my Republican colleagues hold. I want to present two examples of my confusion this morning.
"First, I have heard many of my Republican colleagues come to the floor of the Senate and talk about their concern about price increases in the economy today, and then register votes against the measures that would help families afford things. Many of my Senate Republican colleagues voted for the bipartisan infrastructure, but more voted against it. In the House of Representatives, there is discussion of purging from the Republican party any members of the House Republican Conference that voted for the bipartisan infrastructure, notwithstanding the fact that in that bill is funding that will have a deinflationary impact on the economy. Money for ports, money for infrastructure, money to be able to move goods and people more quickly across this country.
"The Build Back Better agenda, the bill that is going to move before the House and the Senate this month with no Republican support is all about reducing costs for average, regular Americans. Reducing the cost of health care, reducing the cost of energy, reducing the cost of child care. Child care expenses are driving American families crazy today, absolutely crazy. The Build Back Better Act will reduce the cost of child care by $10,000 to $15,000 for families in my state.
"Republicans oppose the Build Back Better Act because it increases some taxes on billionaires and millionaires. It asks every corporation to pay a minimum amount of tax so that companies like Amazon and Google don't get away with paying nothing, or next to nothing, in tax. That's the reason why so many Republicans oppose the Build Back Better agenda is because it's about transferring economic power from the haves, from the economic elites, to folks that have been getting the short end of the stick, who have been getting fleeced by this economy. When Republicans had the chance to cut costs, they did it only for billionaires and millionaires. 80% of the Republican tax cut went to the richest 1% or 2% of the economy. When Democrats have control of the Senate, we deliver tax cuts for the middle class and for the poor. We deliver cost reductions for average American families.
"Wages are going up higher than the rate of personal consumption inflation. Personal consumption inflation is just under 5%. Wages in the last 12 months have gone up by over 5%. People are making more money. Part of the consequence of people making more money is that some costs go up. But when Republicans were in charge of the White House and the Congress, wages were largely flat. Wages are finally going up. People are making more money, and we are going to have legislation on the floor of the Senate that dramatically cuts costs for average American families, and that legislation likely will get not a single Republican vote.
"Republicans' priorities historically have been to deliver benefits to the wealthy, to the elites, to their corporate friends. And so when faced with a very different agenda, an agenda that is all about cost reduction, tax cuts for average families, for families making $30,000 a year, for plumbers, for teachers, for factory workers, for janitors, not a single Republican vote. So therein lies my confusion, that I hear a lot of my Republican colleagues, Republican colleagues that I like, that I respect, come down to the floor of the Senate and complain about costs and then refuse to deliver a single vote for the most significant legislation to reduce costs for families that this body has considered during my time in the Senate.
"Here's my second reason for confusion. Now, encounters with migrants without documentation has come down at the border three months in a row - pretty dramatic reduction, in fact, when it comes to unaccompanied minors and families. That's because this President's policies are working. That's probably the reason you don't hear as many Republicans coming down to the floor, talking about the surge at the border. But Republicans have been down here consistently for months talking about the crisis they describe at the border.
"And so my confusion here is connected to their avowed concern about the surge at the border and then their decision to oppose a Homeland Security budget that would help us address those escalating numbers at the border. Right now, Senate Republicans are refusing to negotiate with Democrats on a budget for 2021 and 2022. That's what's going on right now. Historically we've always had differences when it comes to our priorities in the budget, but we always sat down and negotiated. Right now, Senate Republicans are boycotting discussions over a budget, and one of the theories is that many Republicans would like to see a continuing resolution, the Trump spending levels continued for the rest of 2021-2022.
"Let me tell you what the impact of that would be when it comes to our operations at the border. And I want to explain this because I have the honor to chair the Appropriations Subcommittee overseeing the Department of Homeland Security, and we just a few weeks ago introduced a budget for the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2022. But if this budget or a version of it negotiated with Republicans doesn't pass, the result is catastrophe at the border.
"This budget includes $178 million for medicine and medical contracts for unaccompanied children that arrive at our border, desperately needed medical care for all of these children and families that are arriving at the border. None of it would be available if we went on a continuing resolution. We'd have a health crisis at the border.
"$130 million for three permanent multipurpose, multiagency facilities which will streamline the processing of individuals who present at the border. Right now we have these mega expensive, inhumane, soft-sided facilities. That significant investment at the border cannot happen if we have a continuing resolution.
"$25 million in this budget for increased transportation costs, allowing border control to reduce overcrowding in facilities, moving individuals from crowded facilities to facilities that have room. None of that transportation money available in a C.R., which means the overcrowding gets worse.
"But the crisis is even bigger because without a new budget we can't pay the border patrol. We will have a $770 million payroll shortfall, almost a billion-dollar payroll shortfall if we have a C.R. in the Department of Homeland Security rather than a new budget. That will cripple our ability to manage the border. That will either mean massive layoffs, massive layoffs of CBP personnel, USCIS personnel, or it will mean a massive reprogramming in which the Biden administration is forced to take money from cybersecurity and put it on to the border or steal money from the Coast Guard and coastal defense and put it on the border.
"One independent study showed that a decrease of just 33 CBP officers at our ports of entry would decrease GDP of $66 million and lead to a loss of over 1,000 jobs. Why? Because at our ports of entry when you have a massive downsizing of personnel, wait times go up, businesses lose money.
"If we're on a C.R. and we don't pass a budget, Coast Guard readiness is compromised. The money in this budget for a new offshore patrol cutter, for national security cutters, for the sustainment of the aging rotary wing aircraft fleet - unavailable. And so our Coast Guard readiness continues to suffer, compromising U.S. national security.
"We all know that cybersecurity is an increasing existential threat to the United States and so this budget proposes a significant increase in our cybersecurity defenses. How's the Department of Homeland Security? Without a budget, if a C.R. gets extended through the end of the year, we can't adjust any of our funding programs or priorities when it comes to cybersecurity. We are essentially stuck in a pre-SolarWinds environment in the Department of Homeland Security without the ability to adjust for current threats.
"And, finally, we'll be just wasting a ton of taxpayer money. I'll give you one example. Right now, we have thousands of empty ICE detention beds, thousands of empty ICE detention beds. We pay contractors to maintain these beds, to staff these beds, but there's nobody in them and there's likely not going to be anybody in those beds for the entirety of fiscal year 2022. But if you're on a continuing resolution and you don't pass a new budget, negotiated together, Republicans and Democrats, then we are paying for beds we don't need. We are just wasting taxpayer dollars.
"If we don't pass a budget, if we don't update the Appropriations Bill for the Department of Homeland Security, we are going to be gutting our border protection, we are going to be costing the economy billions of dollars, we're going to be compromising the defense of this nation, and we are going to be wasting taxpayer dollars. We are sent here to be proper and responsible stewards of our constituents', our taxpayers' hard-earned dollars. They don't like sending their money to Washington, but they do so under the belief that we are going to be careful about how we spend it. By just extending 2021 spending levels to 2022, especially when it comes to the defense of this nation, especially when it comes to the protection of the borders, a C.R. could be disastrous as much as it is wildly irresponsible. I yield the floor."
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