NASHVILLE, TN—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Appropriations and Foreign Relations Committees, today joined Mornings With Maria on Fox Business to discuss the agreement between House Republicans on a Continuing Resolution, the unprecedented humanitarian and national security crisis at the southern border, and the suspension of Senate dress code enforcement.
Partial Transcript
Hagerty on the House CR agreement that helps secure the southern border: “Well, I’m pleased to see the House [of Representatives] moving forward, Maria. I went and met with a number of my House colleagues last week, and I explained to them if we don’t get moving on the Republican side with a Continuing Resolution, we’re going to wind up allowing [President] Joe Biden and [Senator] Chuck Schumer drive the ship. And if you look and see what they put forward, they’ve called it a ‘clean Continuing Resolution.’ But what’s in the White House’s plan is something that would be far worse than anything that we could come up with. Buried deep within that plan, and I mentioned this to you before, on page 51 of the language, hidden there is the ability to completely defund [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]. They want to reprogram ICE’s budget, $8.2 billion, to be clear, turning it away from a law enforcement agency and turning them into a resettlement agency to help accelerate the movement of people into our country. Instead of buying tickets to deport people, many with criminal records, to send them back to their countries of origin, they want to be buying airplane tickets to send them to a city near you or me. That’s the type of product that we’re going to get if the House does not take the lead. So, I’m pleased to see them step up. I encourage them to put forward the most conservative bill that they possibly can. My understanding is that this lands between where they originally were at the House and where the Senate landed at a level where Joe Biden and Speaker McCarthy originally set out. It puts significant border security measures in place. And importantly, it defunds some of the most egregious measures that the Biden Administration was using to illegally bring people into the country. Pieces like the app that they use to bring people in, processing folks in other countries to bring them in, that will be defunded. I think it’ll be very tough for Chuck Schumer to say he’d rather shut the government down than secure our border.”
Hagerty on excluding Ukraine funding: “I understand the frustration with Ukraine funding. This Administration—The Biden Administration—has proven themselves completely incompetent to give us a plan to win. I don’t think any American wants to see Ukraine lose, but I think we’re tired of just dumping billions and billions of dollars, getting statements from the President like, ‘so long as it takes’ [with] no real plan. We need to step up and see the Europeans pull their weight and get a clear plan from this Administration of how they would go about utilizing billions of taxpayer dollars, dollars that are being used to protect another country when they want to take our taxpayer dollars and not defend our own borders. It [is] very, very difficult for the Biden Administration to justify this.”
Hagerty on the crisis at the southern border: “It’s complete mayhem at the border. This is a humanitarian crisis that is all Joe Biden’s doing. And if you think about beyond the humanitarian crisis, Maria, we’ve now apprehended, under Joe Biden’s watch, over 170 different nationalities crossing our border illegally. We don’t know who’s in our country. It’s a huge national security crisis as well. And if you think about the level of crime that’s up in the cities, these people are being sent into places. We don’t know where they’re coming from. We don’t know what type of burden they’re putting on our social services. This Administration is creating disruption and chaos all over the country, thanks to what’s happening at the border.”
Hagerty on Biden’s policies weakening America on the world stage: “We’re in a position of weakness at every turn, Maria. If you think about it, we’re a nation now that won’t secure its own border. It’s hard to command respect when we’re negotiating from that posture. And if you look at what happened in Afghanistan, that’s the biggest embarrassment that we’ve ever seen in our lifetimes. And our allies are very, very concerned that the United States will not be there. We surprised our allies on the ground in Afghanistan; we left them in a terrible position. And now we have countries wondering around the world whether the United States leadership will actually be there.”
Hagerty on the suspension of the Senate floor dress code: “Chuck Schumer certainly didn’t consult with me before he made this change. I think it’s just another step in the movement by the Democrats to ‘transform America,’ to take us to a different place, and to take us to a place that is much less respectful than we historically have been. The United States Senate is the world’s most important deliberative body. And to see it completely downgraded, no dress code now, I just think it’s another step in the wrong direction.”
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