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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member on the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, today joined Mike Emanuel on FOX News Channel to discuss her trip to the southern border on Friday and the importance of protecting the fillibuster. On Wednesday, Senator Capito penned a letter to the Government Accountability Office asking for a review of President Biden’s unlawful suspension of border wall funding and construction. Senator Capito’s letter, which more than 40 of her Senate colleagues signed onto, can be found here.
HIGHLIGHTS:
ON TRIP TO THE SOUTHERN BORDER: “It is just overrun with children. We went to a processing center that was built for adults. They are way over capacity in the number of children that they have in their ‘children only facility’ now. And also, they are keeping them there longer than really what is legally allowed, which is a 72-hour period. So, I am very concerned about the situation because the numbers are just continuing to grow. And there is no impedance for these children to be coming in. Obviously the word is out.”
ON GETTING THE SITUATION UNDER CONTROL: “I think that when the secretary decides that they want to blame the prior administration—the Trump administration—I don’t think the American citizens really care about that. I think they want this situation to get under control. It is not under control. The word is out in the northern triangle countries that you’re going to be able to get in and stay and sent into the interior of our country if you make it to the border. We’re having children crossing long crossings with, who knows, traffickers with families paying thousands of dollars. I just think that secretary—we had a great trip with him and with all due respect, I didn’t see any operational plans set forth to us that tell us how he’s going to handle this situation when they are already anticipating—they’re diverting agents into these shelters, they’re diverting some of the drug interdiction resources so they can handle the amount of children that are coming in. This is very concerning I think to all of us.”
ON PRESIDENT BIDEN HALTING PREVIOUSLY APPROVED BORDER WALL FUNDING: “Well first of all, I think it’s a question of is it legal for the president by executive order to overturn the will of Congress in terms of the appropriations of dollars. So, in the case of the wall, at the end of last year, we appropriated over $1 billion for a border wall system, which includes the technology and other things—not just a physical wall. Some of the replacement walls have been taken down and nothing has been put up because President Biden stopped this in its tracks. Personally, when you talk to agents, what they tell you is, the wall and the wall system is part of a tool they need in their tool box to disrupt the flow of illegal immigrants. So, I think it’s important that we finish these contracts at the least and then decide then what kind of technology we need going forward.”
ON PROTECTING THE FILLIBUSTER: “Over the last four years, we were able to move bipartisan legislation, which means we were getting at least eight or nine Democrats to joint with then the majority of Republicans to move—and that forces compromise and negotiation. If we get rid of the filibuster, we are just going to turn into the House of Representatives where majority rule, and it’s going to be a roller coaster of policies that are just going to be able to be passed more easily and have greater impacts—things like the Green New Deal or new voter ID laws and other things of that nature. We have got to preserve this filibuster. That is critical to have the rights of the minority to be able to be heard.”
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