Speaker 1: Welcome.
Speaker 2: It is verdict with Senator Ted Cruz Ben Ferguson with you.
Speaker 2: And the big news is the Senate bill, this border
Speaker 2: disaster bill, has failed. Senator. I want to get your
Speaker 2: reaction this. You fought incredibly hard to stop this bill,
Speaker 2: which had a lot of things in it that people
Speaker 2: I don't even think realize. Going down to the wire,
Speaker 2: it would basically codify, It would have cut of fied
Speaker 2: open borders. It would have sent another sixty billion to Ukraine,
Speaker 2: but only twenty billion to secure the southern border. It
Speaker 2: would have given taxpayer for the lawyers to illegals, and
Speaker 2: it would have cost the American taxpayers one point four
Speaker 2: billion to resettle illegals in the US, including travel and accommodations.
Speaker 3: Look, the bill was a terrible bill. Now the good
Speaker 3: news is the bill is dead. It is dead as
Speaker 3: a door knob. It is going to fail. You and
Speaker 3: I are recording this. It's eleven o'clock at night Tuesday night. Tomorrow, Wednesday,
Speaker 3: the Senate will vote on what's called cloture on the
Speaker 3: motion to proceed. That's the initial vote to take up
Speaker 3: this bill that's going to fail. It needs sixty votes
Speaker 3: to proceed. It's not going to get it. You are
Speaker 3: going to see every Republican or almost every Republican vote.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 3: I don't know what the final vote will be. There
Speaker 3: might be a couple of Republicans who vote yes, but
Speaker 3: we're going to see the overwhelming majority of our conference vote.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 3: That's a very good thing. That is the result of
Speaker 3: what has been an epic battle within the Republican Conference
Speaker 3: in the Senate for months. The reason the bill is
Speaker 3: going to fail tomorrow is because the bill is a
Speaker 3: bad bill. It does not fix the problem of our
Speaker 3: open borders. It does not fix the problem of the
Speaker 3: chaos of the southern border and the invasion that Joe
Speaker 3: Biden has caused, and in significant ways it makes it worse.
Speaker 3: We should discuss as a policy matter, why this bill
Speaker 3: was bad, and in secondly, as a matter of politics,
Speaker 3: why the bill was even worse, why the bill was
Speaker 3: a massive political blunder, a total cluster by Senate Republican
Speaker 3: leadership that is going to do enormous damage. Both are true,
Speaker 3: but we ought to start on the policy front.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the policy aspect of this, because there
Speaker 2: is a lot of people that are very angry that
Speaker 2: this even got this close to being a possibility, and
Speaker 2: it was only because of leaders like you that were
Speaker 2: willing to stand up and say absolutely not time and
Speaker 2: time again while they were trying to cram this down
Speaker 2: our throats and also doing it with this, Hey, we're
Speaker 2: going to tie Ukraine funding in here, and if you
Speaker 2: don't give us that, as Joe Biden has said, there's
Speaker 2: a good chance your boys are going to be fighting
Speaker 2: a war with Russia. And oh, by the way, we're
Speaker 2: going to throw a little money in there for Israel.
Speaker 2: At the same time, we should have nothing to do
Speaker 2: with a border security bill.
Speaker 3: Well what happened here. Now, another reason border security was
Speaker 3: tied to this is because Republicans quite rightly demanded it
Speaker 3: be tied on this, and in particular Joe Biden and
Speaker 3: the White House and Chuck Schumer. They desperately want funding
Speaker 3: for Ukraine, and so does Mitch McConnell, so does Republican
Speaker 3: Senate leadership. And what the Republican Conference said, we united
Speaker 3: the Senate and said, no, we're not going to fund
Speaker 3: Ukraine unless you secure the border. We're not going to
Speaker 3: pay any more to secure the border in Ukraine until
Speaker 3: we secure our own border. That was the right thing
Speaker 3: to say, and I was vocal in leading the effort
Speaker 3: to say, we're going to demand that we secure the
Speaker 3: border and do it now. We're going to use this
Speaker 3: leverage because the White House and the Democrats desperately want
Speaker 3: Ukraine funding, and so we're perfectly fine to say, fine,
Speaker 3: we'll give you a Ukraine funding if, and this is
Speaker 3: a big if, you actually secure the border. This bill
Speaker 3: didn't do it. What did this bill do well? Number one,
Speaker 3: it codified Joe Biden's open border. So the cause of
Speaker 3: the open borders, the biggest cause is catch and release.
Speaker 3: The first week in office that Biden was president, he
Speaker 3: reinstated catch and release, a disastrous policy. It is catch
Speaker 3: and release is contrary to law. It's contrary to federal
Speaker 3: immigration law. Joe Biden is defying law by doing it.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 3: This bill would put it into law catch and release.
Speaker 3: When you catch people, you let them go. Not only that,
Speaker 3: this bill normalized five thousand illegal aliens a day. Five
Speaker 3: thousand illegal aliens a day works out to one point
Speaker 3: eight million a year.
Speaker 2: And explain what you mean by normalized, because this is
Speaker 2: one of the things that happened the last really twenty
Speaker 2: four to forty eight hours. That went viral, and I'm
Speaker 2: not sure people understand how you could claim you were
Speaker 2: going to have a secure border while also saying five
Speaker 2: thousand can come in here, and then another five, and
Speaker 2: another five and another five.
Speaker 3: Explain that, well, The way it was written is it
Speaker 3: said that if if five thousand illegal aliens a day
Speaker 3: are crossing the border, then, as the proponents of the
Speaker 3: bill would say, the border is shut down and they
Speaker 3: could no longer accept asylum applications. That was their pitch,
Speaker 3: and they pitched this as an emergency provision. As a
Speaker 3: practical matter. If this passed, we would see five thousand
Speaker 3: a day for all time, for all perpetuity, we'd see
Speaker 3: five thousand a day. Five thousand a day, as I said,
Speaker 3: is one point eight million a year. One point eight
Speaker 3: million a year means over the three years of the
Speaker 3: Biden presidency so far, we'd have nearly six million illegal aliens.
Speaker 3: We have, in fact, had nine point six million illegal aliens.
Speaker 3: So what Republicans were saying idiotically is we're for two
Speaker 3: thirds of the Biden open borders, and it's not even
Speaker 3: five thousand a day. It's more than that. So there
Speaker 3: were a bunch of exemptions. So, for example, the five
Speaker 3: thousand a day did not count unaccompanied kids, which means
Speaker 3: there's a huge incentive for a massive flow of unaccompanied children.
Speaker 3: These are little boys and little girls that get brutalized
Speaker 3: by human traffickers coming in. Also, the so called shutdown
Speaker 3: authority when you cross five thousand a day was for
Speaker 3: a limited duration. In the first year it could be
Speaker 3: a maximum of two hundred and seventy days, and the
Speaker 3: second year could be for a maximum of two hundred
Speaker 3: and twenty five days, and the third year it could
Speaker 3: be a maximum of one hundred and eighty days. So
Speaker 3: that means it's five thousand a day for half the year,
Speaker 3: and then for the other half the year you can
Speaker 3: go back to ten thousand a day, which is what
Speaker 3: we had in December, and it didn't have anything to
Speaker 3: limit it. And then insanely enough, it gave the president
Speaker 3: discretion to reopen the border at any time quote if
Speaker 3: it is in the national interest to temporarily suspend the
Speaker 3: border emergency authority. In other words, it said to Biden,
Speaker 3: we're being so tough. We're gonna say once you get
Speaker 3: to five thousand a day, you got to shut it down. Well,
Speaker 3: unless you think you don't and then you don't have to.
Speaker 3: That made no sense. Not only that, what else did
Speaker 3: it do. It gave immediate work permits to people coming
Speaker 3: here illegally. That is insane.
Speaker 2: It gave And by the way, they've been pushing hard
Speaker 2: for that over the last several weeks and they're talking
Speaker 2: points is and we've seen this in places like Denver, Colorado.
Speaker 2: We've seen this in New York City, We've seen this
Speaker 2: in sanctuary cities time and time again. Now over the
Speaker 2: last several months, we're like, well, look, we wouldn't have
Speaker 2: this crisis that we have right now if you guys
Speaker 2: would just let them.
Speaker 1: Hurry up and work already.
Speaker 2: And that was part of this, put a gun to
Speaker 2: the head of this country saying, well, everybody, thats ier illegally.
Speaker 2: If you'll just let them work and just let them
Speaker 2: stay and just let them maybe vote by twenty thirty,
Speaker 2: then then we can finally secure the border. But then
Speaker 2: when you read the bill ags you just described it,
Speaker 2: there was no secure in the border here at all.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 3: It did not secure the border. Not only that it
Speaker 3: gave billions, It gave two point three billion, and that
Speaker 3: would go to sanctuary cities. It gave one point four
Speaker 3: billion dollars that would go to nonprofit organizations that are
Speaker 3: providing shelter dailygal aliens and that are helping funnel this invasion.
Speaker 3: So it literally spends billions. You know, you mentioned the
Speaker 3: twenty billion dollar fund amount. That twenty billion is not
Speaker 3: to secure the border. That's not actually that's not money
Speaker 3: for building a wall, that's not money for border patrol agents.
Speaker 3: That's money to pay off sanctuary cities and to pay
Speaker 3: off the nonprofits, the NGOs that are producing this invasion.
Speaker 3: And so on the face of it, this bill made
Speaker 3: things worse because it didn't solve the problem. And so
Speaker 3: as a policy matter, it was putting into federal law,
Speaker 3: federal statute Biden's open borders. That was a spectacularly bad idea.
Speaker 2: I want to talk to you real quick about what's
Speaker 2: happening with or economy. And you may be looking at
Speaker 2: what's happening. You may be looking at our national debt
Speaker 2: exceeding thirty four trillion, and you may be also noticing
Speaker 2: the push for central bank digital currencies. That means that
Speaker 2: our financial freedom is at stake. And that's why I
Speaker 2: want you to know about Freedom Gold USA. If you
Speaker 2: have fifty thousand dollars or more in retirement savings, you
Speaker 2: may be at risk in times of economic uncertainty. Securing
Speaker 2: your family's financial future is essential, and Freedom Gold USA
Speaker 2: is here to empower you to protect your hard earned assets.
Speaker 2: You can act now by calling them one eight hundred
Speaker 2: and sixty five y five eight eight four three, or
Speaker 2: you can visit them at freedom GOOLDUSA dot com slash verdict.
Speaker 2: The team at freedom Gold USA is ready to help
Speaker 2: you preserve your wealth and provide stability in uncertain times.
Speaker 2: Plus there's also something else that's really cool. You can
Speaker 2: also see if you qualify for up to ten thousand
Speaker 2: dollars in free silver.
Speaker 1: That's that's right.
Speaker 2: You can learn how to add gold and silver to
Speaker 2: your IRA or have it shipped to your home, Safeguard
Speaker 2: your wealth for physical gold and silver, and take control
Speaker 2: of your financial future today. So call them one eight
Speaker 2: hundred sixty five five eight eight four three or visit
Speaker 2: them online at freedomgoldussay dot com slash verdict to see
Speaker 2: if you qualify for up to ten thousand dollars in
Speaker 2: free silver. One eight hundred sixty five five eight eight
Speaker 2: four three or Freedomgoldusa dot com slash verdict cenater I.
Speaker 2: The part that after you just described the initial things
Speaker 2: that were so wrong in this bill, that so many
Speaker 2: listening are going to want to ask you is then
Speaker 2: why did Republicans actually even work on this? Why did
Speaker 2: they agree to some of this? Why were they selling
Speaker 2: us out? Because without the Republicans working on this, if
Speaker 2: they would have just walked away, we would have never
Speaker 2: gotten this close.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because it was political malpractice. And that's the second
Speaker 3: piece of it. I mentioned the policy was terrible, but
Speaker 3: the policy was terrible because the politics were terrible. Now
Speaker 3: why were the politics terrible? You know, we had in
Speaker 3: our lunches and so understand what goes on behind the
Speaker 3: scenes at the Senate. Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, all
Speaker 3: the Senate Republicans we have lunch together and that's where
Speaker 3: we have discussions. And I'll tell you, for the last
Speaker 3: several months we have had knocked down, drag out battles
Speaker 3: in their Senate Republican lunches over this issue.
Speaker 2: Can you set the stage like when you're eating wines?
Speaker 2: Is this like cafeteria food box lunch? Are you in
Speaker 2: coat and tie? Is it more casual. How's the room seated?
Speaker 2: Do you have a seat that you see it that
Speaker 2: you're seated in every time? And is anyone from outside
Speaker 2: of just being a center in that room? Are they
Speaker 2: coming and going? How does it work?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: So the lunches are in the United States Capital, so
Speaker 3: in the Capitol building itself on the second floor, which
Speaker 3: is the same floor that the Senate floor is on,
Speaker 3: so it's kind of the middle floor of the Capitol.
Speaker 3: And on two days a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays,
Speaker 3: we have lunch in a room that's called the LBJO
Speaker 3: And it's called the LBJ Room because there's a portrait
Speaker 3: of LBJ on the wall. And look, this is the capital,
Speaker 3: so it is ornate, it is gilded, there's you know,
Speaker 3: beautiful painting and you know, gold leaf, and I mean
Speaker 3: it's it's gorgeous. It's the United States Capital, so it's
Speaker 3: a it's an amazing building. The LBJ Room is is
Speaker 3: relatively small. So there are a whole series of round
Speaker 3: tables in the LBJ Room and it's pretty packed and
Speaker 3: all forty nine Republicans are typically there having dinner, and
Speaker 3: they're usually a half dozen staff members. So it's basically
Speaker 3: senators and maybe a half dozen staff members for leadership.
Speaker 3: They're in the room, but it's almost exclusively senators in
Speaker 3: the room. And and the lunch is typically it's it's
Speaker 3: the food is prepared at the Capitol. It's actually pretty
Speaker 3: good food. It's surprising, you know. It varied, like today
Speaker 3: we had had fried chicken and had had had some
Speaker 3: shrimp and beef thing and some broccoli, so it was,
Speaker 3: you know, it's kind of a it's nicer than a
Speaker 3: school calf. It's not gourmet food, but it was you know,
Speaker 3: it's the food is surprisingly decent. And we're sitting there.
Speaker 3: And then so two days a week we're in the
Speaker 3: LBJ room and then on Wednesdays we're in what's called
Speaker 3: the Mansfield Room. The man's Field Room is bigger, and
Speaker 3: so the majority gets the Mansfield Room on Tuesday and Thursdays.
Speaker 3: Because we're in the minority, we're in the smaller room,
Speaker 3: the LBJ room on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Speaker 2: So the Democrats are meeting at the same time you
Speaker 2: guys are for lunch as well. Okay, and then do
Speaker 2: you have assigned seating? Do you sit there? Is it
Speaker 2: by rank and file or do you just sit with
Speaker 2: your friends.
Speaker 3: No, So they're like, they're you know, I don't know,
Speaker 3: five or six round tables that are in there, and
Speaker 3: you go in and just sit wherever, and so it varies.
Speaker 3: I mean people sometimes end up sitting next to some
Speaker 3: of the same people, but it varies quite a bit.
Speaker 3: You just kind of grab an open seat and you
Speaker 3: sit wherever, so there's no assigned seats. And then on Wednesdays,
Speaker 3: the Mansfield Room is a bigger room and the table
Speaker 3: instead of being set up in a series of round tables,
Speaker 3: it's one big table that is a rectang and we
Speaker 3: all sit around it, and that's called the Steering Lunch.
Speaker 3: Steering is run by the Steering Committee. Mike Lee is
Speaker 3: the chairman of the Steering Committee. I'm on the Executive
Speaker 3: committee of the Steering Committee. The Wednesday lunch is actually
Speaker 3: driven by conservatives. So the Steering the Executive Committee are
Speaker 3: the most conservative senators and the Wednesday lunch is designed
Speaker 3: to discuss policy. And so the way it works, the
Speaker 3: Tuesday lunch is the Leadership lunch, and so Mitch McConnell
Speaker 3: and Republican Leadership runs the Tuesday lunch. The Wednesday lunch
Speaker 3: is the Steering Lunch, and Mike Lee and the Steering
Speaker 3: Executive Committee of which I'm a member, runs that, and
Speaker 3: that typically is very policy focused. And then the Thursday
Speaker 3: Lunch is hosted by a different senator every week. And
Speaker 3: what you do when it's your turn to host the
Speaker 3: Thursday lunch is you fly in food from your home state.
Speaker 3: So I often bring in barbecue from Texas. I'm going
Speaker 3: to be doing it soon. I'm gonna fly in tex
Speaker 3: mex instead, just because we've done barbecue the last several times.
Speaker 3: I figured textmax would be good. And when a senator
Speaker 3: hosts it, that has less of a structure that the
Speaker 3: Thursday Lunch. You just kind of go around and recognize
Speaker 3: each person in the order they came in the room,
Speaker 3: and they stand up and they can say whatever they want,
Speaker 3: and it's usually a little more relaxed. It's less substantive,
Speaker 3: and people will tell a story, they'll raise a policy point,
Speaker 3: they'll kind of say whatever they want. So that's how
Speaker 3: the three lunches are.
Speaker 2: So you have these lunches and then go into what
Speaker 2: these lunches and how they change. When you were dealing
Speaker 2: with this immigration, as you said, it was drag out.
Speaker 2: Is this where it's a grand debate? Is it you
Speaker 2: talk and someone else can you interrupt? Is there kind
Speaker 2: of a decorum of the room. How does that work?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so there's a speaking order, and so it just
Speaker 3: varies who wants to be recognized. And so, you know,
Speaker 3: we had at lunch today, Oh, I don't know. We
Speaker 3: probably had twenty twenty five senators speak and you get
Speaker 3: up and you talk and you say whatever you want
Speaker 3: and there's a difference of opinion. But it was like today,
Speaker 3: it became clear this bill is dead. Like everyone was agreeing,
Speaker 3: the votes aren't there, We're not going to do it. It
Speaker 3: doesn't make any sense. But I'll tell you the case
Speaker 3: I made. I made and I've done this repeatedly for
Speaker 3: several months. I made the case on the merits this
Speaker 3: bill was terrible and it was bad policy because it
Speaker 3: would not secure the border. But I also made the
Speaker 3: case the politics was spectacularly bad. And here's why the
Speaker 3: politics was spectacularly bad. Number one, the chances of this
Speaker 3: becoming law were zero. Why because the House of Representatives
Speaker 3: made absolutely clear they wouldn't pass it. The Speaker of
Speaker 3: the House said, this bill is dead on arrival. In fact,
Speaker 3: the top four in leadership in the House said there's
Speaker 3: no chance the House would pass this bill. And so
Speaker 3: I've spent the past couple of weeks standing up and
Speaker 3: looking at my colleagues who were pushing this bill and
Speaker 3: arguing for it. And their argument was, well, look, this
Speaker 3: has some good changes to immigration law, and I'll con
Speaker 3: see there were some good elements there. They say, well,
Speaker 3: we toughened up asylum law. I'm like, well, it doesn't
Speaker 3: matter if you codify catch and release and you put
Speaker 3: in place normalizing two million people a year coming illegally. Like, okay, fine,
Speaker 3: you get some minor tweaks in law, but who cares.
Speaker 3: It doesn't solve the problem. Sure, But they would say, well,
Speaker 3: if we don't do it now, we can never make
Speaker 3: the law better, and that they were arguing before and
Speaker 3: these improvements in the law, when Trump is president, he
Speaker 3: can use it to secure the border. And I said, look,
Speaker 3: that's wrong, because aid Trump doesn't need it to secure
Speaker 3: the border. We had secured the border before without a
Speaker 3: law passing. But b even if that were true, that
Speaker 3: won't happen unless this actually passes into law. And given
Speaker 3: that the House of Representatives had told us, it ain't
Speaker 3: gonna happen. I repeatedly looked at the advocates for this bill.
Speaker 3: I looked at Mitch McConnell. I said, how do you
Speaker 3: pass the House of Representatives? The Speaker of the House
Speaker 3: has said it's not going to and if it's dead
Speaker 3: on arrival, what the hell are we doing? And if
Speaker 3: it's not going to pass, this is where the political
Speaker 3: piece kicks in. I said, if it's not going to pass,
Speaker 3: what's the purpose? And I'll tell you what the purpose is.
Speaker 3: Chuck Schumer is thrilled today. He is very very happy
Speaker 3: because the political purpose of this was to give Democrats camouflage,
Speaker 3: to give them a defense.
Speaker 1: To give himn out right where they're not taking heat.
Speaker 3: So every single Democrat running for office in America, every
Speaker 3: Democrat Senate candidate, every Democrat House candidate, they're all already
Speaker 3: saying word for word the same thing, which is they're
Speaker 3: standing up and saying, number one, nothing happens on the border,
Speaker 3: which is what they want, so that the open borders continue.
Speaker 3: That's the policy outcome they wanted. But number two, every
Speaker 3: Democrat can now say, gosh, we wanted to secure the border.
Speaker 3: We were ready to secure the border, but the mean
Speaker 3: old Republicans wouldn't let us, and so it's their fault
Speaker 3: we have this border crisis. And I get why Chuck
Speaker 3: Schumer wants that as a political talking point, but why
Speaker 3: the hell would Republican leadership in the Senate. And as
Speaker 3: I pointed out to them, I said today, I said, look,
Speaker 3: you guys have given the largest in kind contribution to
Speaker 3: the Democrat Senate Committee in the history of the country
Speaker 3: because you've given them an out and provided a defense,
Speaker 3: and you've done nothing, zero to fix the problem.
Speaker 2: So explain to me what your strategy would have been differently,
Speaker 2: knowing now how this played out, and who around you
Speaker 2: agreed with you, and why was it so hard to
Speaker 2: get other Republicans to come to your rationale before this
Speaker 2: disaster happened.
Speaker 3: So our strategy was simple, and it started off as
Speaker 3: the right strategy. We said, we're not going to pass
Speaker 3: Ukraine funding unless you actually secure the border. That was
Speaker 3: the right strategy. What was critical is actually secure the
Speaker 3: border and the way to do that. The House actually
Speaker 3: passed a bill and it's called HR two and it
Speaker 3: is very tough border security legislation. It is mandatory, it
Speaker 3: stops catch and release at mandates attention, at mandates deportation.
Speaker 3: It building the wall, it ties the President's hands, and
Speaker 3: it was designed to do everything possible legally to force
Speaker 3: Biden to stop these open borders. The House passed HR
Speaker 3: two was the right way to go. I've introduced HR
Speaker 3: two in the Senate. I am the lead Senate author
Speaker 3: for HR two. My position was very simple, you want
Speaker 3: to know how you get this done. Attach HR two
Speaker 3: to Ukraine funding, by the way, I would vote for
Speaker 3: Ukraine funding and HR two. Why Because securing the border
Speaker 3: is a massive national security priority for America, a massive
Speaker 3: public safety priority, a massive priority for saving our nation.
Speaker 3: That would be a good deal. You know what happened
Speaker 3: when the bill came over, Chuck Schumer said at the
Speaker 3: outset said HR two's off the table. We refused to
Speaker 3: do it. Absolutely not. Why because HR two would actually
Speaker 3: secure the border, and Chuck Schumer doesn't want to secure
Speaker 3: the border. And so Schumer immediately rejected HR two because
Speaker 3: it was effect and he would only agree to something
Speaker 3: that was massively ineffective and that ensured this, this southern
Speaker 3: border invasion continues.
Speaker 1: So then how did leadership get this so wrong?
Speaker 2: Because the American people, and the polling specifically on the
Speaker 2: border crisis was overwhelmingly in the side of conservatives and
Speaker 2: what we've been calling for, what we've been advocating for,
Speaker 2: and for genuinely securing the border. In fact, it played
Speaker 2: even more into the Hans the Republican Party after you
Speaker 2: had this fight between Texas and cutting the razor wire
Speaker 2: and the border and the myiarchists and what's happening with
Speaker 2: the Biden administration, and the polling shows that the American
Speaker 2: people are not with Joe Biden on this issue. How
Speaker 2: could they not see that? How could Mitch McConnell not
Speaker 2: see that?
Speaker 3: Because Mitch McConnell, what he cares about is Ukraine funding.
Speaker 3: He has said repeatedly it is the most important thing
Speaker 3: in the country to fund the war in Ukraine.
Speaker 1: And so does he believe that there something behind the
Speaker 1: scenes politically?
Speaker 3: I think he believes it. I have no reason to
Speaker 3: doubt his sincerity in saying that. But he is passionate
Speaker 3: about it. And when it comes to the border, Look,
Speaker 3: would he like to secure the border shore? Would he
Speaker 3: vote for something to secure the border shore? But but
Speaker 3: it's not a driving priority for him. If it doesn't happen. Well, okay,
Speaker 3: that's unfortunate, but it's not. It wasn't his objective in
Speaker 3: this whole thing. And so here's the fundamental challenge. And listen,
Speaker 3: this bill was negotiated by James Langford, Republican from Oklahoma,
Speaker 3: by Chris Murphy, an extremely liberal left wing Democrat from Connecticut,
Speaker 3: and by Kirsten Cinema, a liberal to somewhat moderate Democrat
Speaker 3: slash independent from Arizona, and Lankford. Langford's a really good
Speaker 3: guy and Langford has been just just gone through a
Speaker 3: buzzsaw on this and basically what happened is leadership pushed
Speaker 3: him out on a limb and then saw the limb
Speaker 3: off behind him, and he's been getting pounded. But here
Speaker 3: was the problem for Langford, and Langford was just followed
Speaker 3: orders and did what leadership asked him to do. And
Speaker 3: here was the problem. There were two mandates that were
Speaker 3: non negotiable. Chuck Schumer's mandate effectively was we will not
Speaker 3: secure the border. We won't agree to anything that is
Speaker 3: effective securing the border. That was Chuck Schumer's non negotiable.
Speaker 3: Mitch McConnell's mandate, his non negotiable was we must must
Speaker 3: get a deal because what he cares about is Ukraine funding.
Speaker 3: So Langford was essentially told do whatever you can to
Speaker 3: get a deal from Schumer, but no is not an answer.
Speaker 3: You must agree to what Schumer wants. And so Langford
Speaker 3: spent hundreds thousands of hours negotiating with Chris Murphy, which
Speaker 3: I do not envy the guy. That was not fun,
Speaker 3: but he was operating from a position that mcconne wouldn't
Speaker 3: let it say no. McConnell's instructions were get a deal.
Speaker 3: So when you ask James, well, why are these terms
Speaker 3: so bad? Why aren't there better, he says, well, that's
Speaker 3: all the Democrats would agree to. Yeah, like, it's real simple.
Speaker 3: If you want the Ukraine funding past HR two, and
Speaker 3: you got to be prepared to walk away. Now. I
Speaker 3: don't know what they would have done if that happened,
Speaker 3: but we will never know because McConnell's immediate response when
Speaker 3: Schumer said no, no, no, we won't do HR two is well, okay,
Speaker 3: well then we'll do whatever you want. And it's even
Speaker 3: worse than that. This was an incredibly misguided strategy. But
Speaker 3: I want you to listen to McConnell at a press
Speaker 3: conference today after our lunch to give a listen.
Speaker 1: Good later Connald's ear the pleader McConnell.
Speaker 4: Cleaterer McConnell, You know, Senator Schumer says that he worked
Speaker 4: extensively with you on this package. What do you say
Speaker 4: to your colleagues who said that you misfrite your conference
Speaker 4: in helping to craft this quarter of price.
Speaker 5: I followed the instructions of our conference who were insisting
Speaker 5: that we tackled this in October. I mean it's actually
Speaker 5: our side that wanted to tackle the border issue. We
Speaker 5: started it obviously with a Democratic president and a Democratic senator.
Speaker 5: Our negotiators had to deal with them, and James Langford
Speaker 5: under those situations, did a remarkable job to pick off
Speaker 5: the Border Council, which supported President Trump. Certainly underscores that
Speaker 5: it was a quality product that that particular union felt
Speaker 5: would make progress towards making things better. But as I
Speaker 5: said earlier, things had changed over the last four months,
Speaker 5: and it's been made perfectly clear by the Speaker that
Speaker 5: he wouldn't take it up even if we sent it
Speaker 5: to him. And so I think that's probably why most
Speaker 5: of our members think we ought to have opposition tomorrow
Speaker 5: we'll see and then move on with the rest of
Speaker 5: the supplement.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's a great story center, but doesn't seem
Speaker 2: to necessarily add up with reality, does it?
Speaker 3: Well? And I want to underscore. So you're seeing half
Speaker 3: of what was the biggest fight at lunch today, and
Speaker 3: so I wanted you to listen to that because that's
Speaker 3: what Mitch said at lunch. And I have a policy
Speaker 3: at the lunches, which is I don't repeat what other
Speaker 3: senators say at the lunch. I think they're owed some
Speaker 3: expectation of privacy that we can have candid and really
Speaker 3: frank discussion. So I don't repeat what others say, but
Speaker 3: I repeat what I say because if I said it,
Speaker 3: I have a right to repeat it and say it elsewhere.
Speaker 3: Given that Mitch went out and just said it to
Speaker 3: the reporters, I can tell you that's what he said
Speaker 3: in the room as well. And when he said it,
Speaker 3: I stood up and I said, by the way, and
Speaker 3: you listen to the words he just said. That press conference,
Speaker 3: he said, well, gosh, it was the Republican conference that
Speaker 3: wanted to tackle this issue. Notice tackle this issue. Yeah, No,
Speaker 3: we didn't want to quote tackle this issue. We wanted
Speaker 3: to solve this issue, fix the border. Notice, he said, well, gosh,
Speaker 3: it's Democrats, so obviously we weren't going to succeed in
Speaker 3: solving the border, so we just had to tackle the
Speaker 3: issue and do what the Democrats want. That's his view.
Speaker 3: But when he made that argument and you just listened
Speaker 3: to it, I stood up immediately after him and I said,
Speaker 3: I got to say, if Republican senators go out and
Speaker 3: repeat what Mitch just said, it would be spectacularly harmful
Speaker 3: and it would be a massive political favor to Chuck
Speaker 3: Schumer and every Democrat running. And let me explain to
Speaker 3: you why, because what Mitch argued. Notice he said there, hey,
Speaker 3: you know, James did a fantastic job and this bill
Speaker 3: was a great work product. It was a terrific bill.
Speaker 3: And Mitch was like saying, well, just say, well, the
Speaker 3: House wouldn't pass it. I said, let me be clear.
Speaker 3: If a bunch of Republicans go out and say this
Speaker 3: is a terrific bill, but the House wouldn't pass it,
Speaker 3: every Democrat John Tester this week has already said, look,
Speaker 3: I was ready to secure the border, but these crazy
Speaker 3: right wingers wouldn't pass it. And their story they want
Speaker 3: to tell is these knuckle dragging Trumpers don't actually want
Speaker 3: to secure the border, because we had a great bill
Speaker 3: to secure the border, and they're so crazy they want
Speaker 3: so their argument is that Republicans want the issue, we
Speaker 3: want a campaign on the border rather than actually fix it.
Speaker 3: And I'll tell you I yelled at my colleagues last
Speaker 3: week when they were making this argument, and I said, listen,
Speaker 3: for me, I've lived this border. There is nobody in
Speaker 3: this body who wants to solve this more than I do,
Speaker 3: because it is a travesty that is hammering and destroying
Speaker 3: Texas every day. But I said, listen, if a bunch
Speaker 3: of Republicans go out and tell the story, this was
Speaker 3: a great bill that would secure the border. But you know,
Speaker 3: Trump is so crazy, we couldn't do it. But the
Speaker 3: Speaker of the House and the House Republicans, they're so crazy,
Speaker 3: we couldn't do it, and so it's their fault. But
Speaker 3: we had a fabulous bill. I said, listen, you are
Speaker 3: literally repeating Schumer's talking point for every Senate Democrat incumbent.
Speaker 3: If you want John Tester to win, go say what
Speaker 3: you just said to the reporters. If you want Shared
Speaker 3: Brown to win. If you want every Democrat running to win,
Speaker 3: go say that. And I said, look what you ought
Speaker 3: to say, And I said, listen, you don't have to
Speaker 3: throw James Langford under the bus. He's a good man.
Speaker 3: But the reason this bill sucks is because the Democrats
Speaker 3: are radical zealas who don't want to secure the border,
Speaker 3: and so they wouldn't agree to a bill other than
Speaker 3: a bill that sucks. And that's not a complicated message.
Speaker 3: You don't have to say, you know, Langford is a
Speaker 3: horrible human being. You just have to say he was
Speaker 3: given an impossible task because it depended on the Democrats agreeing.
Speaker 3: And the Democrats want open borders. As long as they
Speaker 3: want open borders, they won't agree to legislation that stops
Speaker 3: open borders. But the infuriating thing is Mitch walked right
Speaker 3: out and said it to the press. So he's perfectly
Speaker 3: happy to say, hey, great bill, just crazy Republicans won't
Speaker 3: pass it. And that's exactly what Schumer is saying as well.
Speaker 3: The two of them, This wasn't a Langford Murphy bill.
Speaker 3: This was a Schumer McConnell bill. This was the two
Speaker 3: of them. And why was it? Because both of them
Speaker 3: desperately want to fund the Ukraine war and on immigration.
Speaker 3: They just wanted to throw whatever fig leaf was necessary
Speaker 3: on the table to give to give an excuse to
Speaker 3: try to get Ukraine funding passed.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of people that are gonna be listening.
Speaker 2: They're gonna say, all right, well, yes, this seems like
Speaker 2: this is a victory that we didn't have this bill
Speaker 2: become all but there also seems to be a lot
Speaker 2: of frustration of Okay, what's next. I mean, Senator, we
Speaker 2: can't secure the border. That is their leverage on everything.
Speaker 2: Biden sitting there saying, okay, fine, We'll just keep having
Speaker 2: record number of legal immigrants come across the southern border.
Speaker 2: You look at the numbers, there were breaking record after record.
Speaker 2: I go back to the basics that Biden said in
Speaker 2: his press conference quote the only reason the border is
Speaker 2: not secure, Donald Trump, we know that's a lie.
Speaker 3: Notice notice, by the way, that's Mitch McConnell's talking point too.
Speaker 3: If Joe Biden Mitch McConnell are saying the same thing,
Speaker 3: why is the Republican Senate leader repeating Biden and Schumer's
Speaker 3: talking point? That is a lie.
Speaker 2: I want to tell you about Patriot Mobile real quick.
Speaker 2: For ten years, Patriot Mobile has been America's only Christian
Speaker 2: conservative wireless provider.
Speaker 1: And when I say only, I mean it.
Speaker 2: If you are sick and tired of giving your money
Speaker 2: to organizations that actually hate your values, that hate your
Speaker 2: family values, hate your Christian values, hate the First Amendment
Speaker 2: rights and Second Amendment rights, hate our Constitution, then it
Speaker 2: is time for you to switch to Patriot Mobile. They
Speaker 2: offer you dependable nationwide coverage, giving you the same exact
Speaker 2: coverage that you get right now because they use the
Speaker 2: same towers. But what you're getting rid of is the
Speaker 2: propaganda of the left and funding the left. Big Mobile
Speaker 2: gives big donations to demic credit causes candidates, including Plan Parenthood.
Speaker 1: And that is why I have switched to Patriot Mobile.
Speaker 2: When I look at my phone in the top left corner,
Speaker 2: it says Patriot and I know that I'm sending a
Speaker 2: message that I support free speech, religious freedom, and the
Speaker 2: sanctity of life. And every time I pay my bill,
Speaker 2: I also know I'm making a difference because they take
Speaker 2: five percent of my bill at no extra cost to you,
Speaker 2: and they give it back to conservative causes.
Speaker 1: So try Patriot Mobile. Make the switch.
Speaker 2: It's easy to get one hundred percent US based customer
Speaker 2: service team, and you get to keep your same phone
Speaker 2: number and upgrade your phone as well. If you want
Speaker 2: to their number nine seven to two Patriot. That's nine
Speaker 2: seven to two Patriot, nine seven to two Patriot. Use
Speaker 2: the promo code Verdict you'll get free activation as well,
Speaker 2: or online at Patriotmobile dot com slash verdict. That's Patriot
Speaker 2: Mobile dot com slash vertict. Not only is it a lie,
Speaker 2: Donald Trump's not the president right now, and you look
Speaker 2: at the numbers to also back up why it's a lie.
Speaker 2: In twenty twenty illegal border encounters for four hundred thousand,
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one, it jumped to one million, seven hundred
Speaker 2: and thirty five thousand. Then in twenty twenty two under Biden,
Speaker 2: get it jumped to two million, three hundred and seventy
Speaker 2: nine thousand, twenty twenty three two million, four hundred and
Speaker 2: seventy six thousand, and yet he wants to say the
Speaker 2: only reason the border is not secure is because of
Speaker 2: Donald Trump.
Speaker 1: It's a lie. They're the facts to back it up.
Speaker 1: But what's next now, because.
Speaker 3: Well, and let me explain more why it's a lie.
Speaker 1: Listen.
Speaker 3: What Biden is saying, what Schumer is saying, is that
Speaker 3: we had a fabulous bipartisan agreement that would have solved
Speaker 3: this problem. But then crazy Donald Trump and they're telling,
Speaker 3: decided he didn't want to solve this problem, and he
Speaker 3: threw a fit and said, don't pass anything because I
Speaker 3: want a campaign on this. And then their narrative continues
Speaker 3: to be and all the Republicans are sheep and they
Speaker 3: just obeyed Donald Trump. And the reason this failed is
Speaker 3: because because Trump ordered Republicans to oppose this. That is
Speaker 3: Joe Biden's story. It is also Chuck Schumer's story. It
Speaker 3: is also the story of every single Senate Democrat. I'm
Speaker 3: reading the clips and it's word for word every Senate Democrat.
Speaker 3: And you know what, it's also Mitch McConnell's story. And
Speaker 3: it's the story of several other Republicans who are going
Speaker 3: out and they're saying, oh, you're just following Trump's orders. Well, listen,
Speaker 3: I talked to Trump frequently, but I can tell you
Speaker 3: I haven't had a single conversation with Trump about this
Speaker 3: issue at all. I've been leading the fight against this
Speaker 3: issue from the beginning. We haven't talked about this supplemental bill,
Speaker 3: but it was obvious on the merits. I looked to
Speaker 3: the merits and said, does this bill solve the problem?
Speaker 3: And it doesn't, but it is incredibly harmful when Republican senators,
Speaker 3: many of them just they don't like Trump and they're
Speaker 3: frustrated now and so they're lashing out. But they're lashing
Speaker 3: out in a way that helps Democrats.
Speaker 2: So where do we go from here? I mean, there's
Speaker 2: also another defeat. People are frustrating the House side and
Speaker 2: impeaching my orchis that failed? Granted it could come up
Speaker 2: for another vote, but as of now, it seems like
Speaker 2: that's a failure. We have an open border. That seems
Speaker 2: like another failure. Is this now just going to be
Speaker 2: a wide open border till election Day? And that's what
Speaker 2: this next election is going to be about. Hey, you
Speaker 2: vote for Republicans and you'll get a secure border only
Speaker 2: if we have the House, Senate in the White House.
Speaker 3: Look, in all likelihood, yes, Joe Biden caused this open border.
Speaker 3: Joe Biden could secure it tomorrow. He did it unilaterally.
Speaker 3: He didn't pass any new legislation, He didn't change the
Speaker 3: law to cause this crisis. He simply defied the law.
Speaker 3: He made three decisions that caused this crisis. He stopped
Speaker 3: building the border wall. He reinstated the disastrous policy of
Speaker 3: catch and release, and he ended the incredibly successful policy
Speaker 3: the agreement remained in Mexico. That's what caused this crisis.
Speaker 3: Biden could change that tomorrow. He doesn't want to. He's
Speaker 3: not going to now. Actually to fix this, we don't
Speaker 3: necessarily need a Republican president, Republican House, and Republican Senate.
Speaker 3: We just need a Republican president. If Trump were president again,
Speaker 3: we would secure the border again. Why because he would
Speaker 3: vigorously enforce the law. Biden is defying the law. Winning
Speaker 3: the White House as the key to securing the border. Now,
Speaker 3: with a Republican Senate in house, we can do more,
Speaker 3: We can be more effected. But you ask, what's next, Well, listen,
Speaker 3: what's next. Tomorrow We're going to vote on this supplemental
Speaker 3: with the bad border provisions that's going to fail. What
Speaker 3: we're anticipating will happen next is Schumer is going to
Speaker 3: go back to the supplemental that has Ukraine and has
Speaker 3: Israel and has Taiwan and does nothing on the border.
Speaker 3: That's what he tried initially that we blocked in the fall,
Speaker 3: and I don't know what will happen. I'm going to
Speaker 3: oppose it because what I said before, I still believe
Speaker 3: I'm not going to vote for this bill until we
Speaker 3: actually secure our border. When I said it, unlike Republican leadership,
Speaker 3: I wasn't just reading talking points. I actually believe that
Speaker 3: securing the border is the existential national security threat facing
Speaker 3: the United States right now now, and we should use
Speaker 3: the leverage that the Democrats desperately want on Ukraine to
Speaker 3: try to get it done. So I think our view
Speaker 3: should be, if you want Ukraine funding, attach it to
Speaker 3: HR two and you'll get your funding. But Schumer's going
Speaker 3: to take up Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan. He's probably going to
Speaker 3: begin tomorrow, and I don't know what will happen, but
Speaker 3: I think there is a very real possibility that a
Speaker 3: significant number of Republicans vote for that, that they care
Speaker 3: so much about the Ukraine funding, they're going to say,
Speaker 3: we try it on the border, we failed, Now let's
Speaker 3: fund Ukraine. If they get nine votes, which I think
Speaker 3: is probably pretty likely, they'll get sixty, which is what
Speaker 3: it takes to pass the Senate and so I think
Speaker 3: there's a reasonable prospect that a supplemental bill that funds
Speaker 3: Ukraine and Israel and Taiwan will pass out of the Senate.
Speaker 3: But then I think it's very likely to fail in
Speaker 3: the House. I don't think the House will take it up.
Speaker 3: And that means that McConnell and Schumer and Biden still
Speaker 3: have a problem if they want Ukraine funding. Passing a
Speaker 3: clean funding bill out of the Senate is not going
Speaker 3: to get the job done. And so what I would
Speaker 3: urge the House to do is take the Ukraine funding bill,
Speaker 3: attach HR two to it, and send it back to
Speaker 3: the Senate and keep fighting. Use the leverage we have
Speaker 3: to say, hey, you can have this funding if you
Speaker 3: want secure the border first, because that matters more, and
Speaker 3: use that leverage. Look, that will not come from McConnell
Speaker 3: and Senate Republican leadership, but I'm hopeful the Speaker and
Speaker 3: House Republicans will hold the line. And I hope that's
Speaker 3: what's next.
Speaker 1: It's going to be very interesting to see where this
Speaker 1: all ends up. Center.
Speaker 2: I appreciate you kind of takeing us behind closed doors
Speaker 2: and explaining how the sausage is made here, because even
Speaker 2: with this victory of it not going to become a
Speaker 2: bill become law. There's still a lot of real, real
Speaker 2: genuine frustration from Conservatives and it may be that it
Speaker 2: is the election year issue. Don't forget we do this
Speaker 2: show Monday when day in Fridays, make sure you hit
Speaker 2: that subscribe auto download button.
Speaker 1: Also help this
Speaker 2: Show reach other people by sharing it on your social media,
Speaker 2: whether you're on X on Facebook, on Instagram, you can
Speaker 2: hit the share button and share this episode so others
Speaker 2: will know exactly what's going on with the border security issue,
Speaker 2: as well as Ukraine funding and the Center and I
Speaker 2: will see you back here on Friday.