WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, on Wednesday spoke on the U.S. Senate floor to call for passage of the bipartisan border security bill that former President Trump convinced Republicans to kill earlier this year. Murphy reintroduced the bill as a standalone piece of legislation last week, and the U.S. Senate will vote Thursday.

“Why did a bill that had the support of Senator Lankford, the appointed negotiator, had the support of Senator McConnell, fail? And the answer is simple. Donald Trump told Republicans to kill the bill. Donald Trump told Republicans that their party would be better off if the border was a mess, if nothing passed, because more Republicans would get elected this November if there were scenes of chaos at the border. And so even though you've got a bipartisan border bill, kill it, because politically it's better for Republicans if the border is a mess,” Murphy said.

Ahead of tomorrow’s vote, he said: “And so that's why we're here today. Because the American public wants us to pass bipartisan border security legislation. Democrats want to pass bipartisan border security legislation. But as far as I can tell, Republicans do not, because they want the border to be a mess.  We'll see tomorrow. We'll have another chance. If this is an emergency like Republicans say, then let's give it one more shot.”

Murphy emphasized the importance of continuing to work to fix the broken immigration system: “[T]his bill does not do everything we need to do to reform our broken immigration system. Of course, I want a pathway to citizenship for people that are living in the shadows. I want to make sure that those kids who know nothing except for being Americans have a chance to stay here permanently. But this bill is a really important downpayment, a really important bipartisan downpayment on border security and immigration reform.

Murphy excoriated Donald Trump’s core strategy of turning Americans against immigrants: “[K]eeping this issue of immigration unsolved, keeping the border chaotic is so important to Republicans, and in particular, to Donald Trump. The reason is that making Americans afraid of each other, turning us against each other, is the centerpiece of Donald Trump's message. And thus, for this election, at least, the centerpiece of the Republican platform. The idea is to keep the border broken, to keep the immigration system broken, because it helps breed and maintain resentment towards immigrants, towards people that are different from you. Just last month, Trump said this, he said, ‘Immigrants are not human. They are animals.’ If a major political figure said that 20 years ago, there'd be, I think, Republicans and Democrats both standing up and condemning that kind of language. Donald Trump calls immigrants animals, says they're not human, he says that on a regular basis, and he’s celebrated by Republicans. I wish this weren't true. I wish it weren't a foundational aspect of modern Republicanism, to try to turn us against each other, to try to make us afraid of people who are coming to this country just to save their family's lives. That's where we are. That's where we are.

Murphy concluded: “Republicans can complain that we're asking them to vote on a negotiated bipartisan compromise because it is inconvenient for them to vote against a bill that was endorsed by high profile Senate Republicans and by high profile conservative groups. It's inconvenient for them to vote against a bill that actually brings security to the border, that fixes the problem that they say that they want to be fixed. But that is our job. Our job is to come here and not just do press conferences, not just search for clicks online. Our job is to fix problems, and the broken border and our broken immigration system is a problem. This bill doesn't fix all of those problems, but it's the biggest fix we’ve had a chance to vote on in a generation. So yes, we need to vote on this, again, to give Republicans the chance to do the right thing.”

A full transcript of Murphy’s remarks can be found below:

“Tomorrow, we're going to have a chance to come together, Republicans and Democrats, to be able to secure our border, to make better sense of our immigration system. This is what the American people want us to do. They don't elect us to hold press conferences. They don't elect us to post on social media. They don't elect us to argue. They elect us to solve problems.

“To my great gladness, there are Republicans who were willing to solve these problems. Senator Lankford is one of them. Senator Sinema, an independent, Senator Lankford, and I sat in a room for four months, and we negotiated a bipartisan compromise, a compromise, that would allow us to get tougher on our southern border, to make sure that only the right people are coming to the United States, those that have a legitimate claim of asylum, those that are legitimately fleeing terror and torture, that would create a more compassionate, more effective, more efficient system of immigration.

“We were engaged in this process because Republicans demanded it. Republicans said ‘We want you to pass bipartisan immigration reform. We want you to get to a result. We'll vote for it if you achieve that result.’ They selected Senator Lankford as the chosen negotiator. We achieved that result. Senator McConnell was in the room for those negotiations. It was endorsed by some of the most conservative outlets and organizations in the country, including the Chamber of Commerce, the Wall Street Journal, and the very conservative Border Patrol Union. But it only got four Republican votes. And so I want to talk for just a minute about why that happened, what the bill does, and why it's important that we have another vote this week.

“First, let's just talk briefly about what this bill does. Probably first and most importantly, it fixes the broken immigration system, the asylum system in particular. Right now, you come to this country and apply for asylum, it takes sometimes as long as ten years before you get your claim heard. That's not fair. That's not fair for the individual who's applying. But that's not fair for others who are waiting outside of the country to try to come to the United State. It’s not fair for communities that ultimately have to house and provide services for all those individuals who are waiting to apply for asylum. So this bill fixes that broken system. It takes that five or ten year wait down to weeks or months.

“This bill gives the President emergency authorities to close down portions of the border when crossings get too high. You can't handle 10,000 people a day at the border. We all know that. Republicans and Democrats, the American public knows that. They saw that chaos at the end of last year. This bill says the President, whether you're Republican or Democrat, has the emergency authority to close down the border during times of high crossings.

“This bill makes significant investments in combating fentanyl. My colleagues have talked about the scourge of fentanyl. Hundreds and hundreds of people dying in my state, thousands across this country. This bill invests significant new resources in stopping the flow of drugs across our border. It’s a $20 billion investment overall, much of that money is targeted towards fentanyl. And then it just takes a bunch of commonsense steps to treat those who are coming to the United States in a more humane way. It says if you're coming here and you have a legitimate claim to asylum, you should be able to work while your claim is being processed, that you should have a right to a lawyer during that process, that we should provide a little bit of money for young kids who are eight years old, eight year olds, to have representation. It provides a pathway to citizenship for certain really critical populations, including Afghans, including the children of H-2B holders.

“Inside this bill are a number of really important reforms. This system just makes more sense. It's more effective, it's more humane. But at the foundation of this bill is border security, making sure that we have a border that's manageable, that is not chaotic. Now, I agree with my colleagues, this bill does not do everything we need to do to reform our broken immigration system. Of course, I want a pathway to citizenship for people that are living in the shadows. I want to make sure that those kids who know nothing except for being Americans have a chance to stay here permanently. But this bill is a really important downpayment, a really important bipartisan downpayment on border security and immigration reform.

“The question is, why did it fail? Why did a bill that had the support of Senator Lankford, the appointed negotiator, had the support of Senator McConnell, fail? And the answer is simple. Donald Trump told Republicans to kill the bill. Donald Trump told Republicans that their party would be better off if the border was a mess, if nothing passed, because more Republicans would get elected this November if there were scenes of chaos at the border. And so even though you've got a bipartisan border bill, kill it, because politically it's better for Republicans if the border is a mess.

“That's not my analysis. That is literally what Republicans have said on the record repeatedly. Senator McConnell said it himself, said Donald Trump told us to do nothing. Senator McConnell didn't say Donald Trump told us to write a better bill. He said Donald Trump told Senate Republicans ‘do nothing.’ And so that's why we're here today. Because the American public wants us to pass bipartisan border security legislation. Democrats want to pass bipartisan border security legislation. But as far as I can tell, Republicans do not, because they want the border to be a mess.  We'll see tomorrow, we'll have another chance. If this is an emergency like Republicans say, then let's give it one more shot.

“And let me end with this, because I do think it's important to just explore for a minute why keeping this issue of immigration unsolved, keeping the border chaotic is so important to Republicans, and in particular, to Donald Trump. The reason is that making Americans afraid of each other, turning us against each other, is the centerpiece of Donald Trump's message. And thus, for this election, at least, the centerpiece of the Republican platform. The idea is to keep the border broken, to keep the immigration system broken, because it helps breed and maintain resentment towards immigrants, towards people that are different from you. Just last month, Trump said this, he said, ‘Immigrants are not human. They are animals.’ If a major political figure said that 20 years ago, there'd be, I think, Republicans and Democrats both standing up and condemning that kind of language. Donald Trump calls immigrants animals, says they're not human, he says that on a regular basis, and he’s celebrated by Republicans. I wish this weren't true. I wish it weren't a foundational aspect of modern republicanism, to try to turn us against each other, to try to make us afraid of people who are coming to this country just to save their family's lives. That's where we are. That's where we are.

“But that doesn't obviate us from the responsibility to govern. And so Republicans can complain that we're asking them to vote on a negotiated bipartisan compromise because it is inconvenient for them to vote against a bill that was endorsed by high profile Senate Republicans and by high profile conservative groups. It's inconvenient for them to vote against a bill that actually brings security to the border, that fixes the problem that they say that they want to be fixed. But that is our job. Our job is to come here and not just do press conferences, not just search for clicks online. Our job is to fix problems, and the broken border and our broken immigration system is a problem. This bill doesn't fix all of those problems, but it's the biggest fix we’ve had a chance to vote on in a generation. So yes, we need to vote on this, again, to give Republicans the chance to do the right thing, to choose the security of this country, to choose fixing a problem that they identify, instead of choosing to try to gain some political advantage in this election, instead of choosing to continue to double down on the strategy of dividing Americans from each other. That's why we're voting tomorrow. And I am hopeful that Republicans and Democrats will come together to support this important bipartisan border security legislation. I yield the floor.”

###