Click here or on the image above to watch Senator Capito’s floor speech.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, today led her Republican colleagues in highlighting the crisis at the southern border, which has been fueled by President Biden’s inaction and failed policies. In a press conference yesterday, Senator Capito also discussed the border crisis, emphasizing the impact drug trafficking has had on states like West Virginia.

HIGHLIGHTS:

RECORD DECEMBER: “Over the weekend, Customs and Border Protection released the numbers for this past December, and apprehensions along our southern border were reported at 251,487 – an all-time high.”

BIDEN BLAME GAME: “The president has been saying of Republicans: ‘It is easy to demagogue this issue and reject solutions.’ So here’s what I have to say to the president in response to that: ‘No Mr. President, it is not easy to demagogue. It is easy to see that this issue is not getting the attention that it deserves by this administration.’”

CONGRESS HAS A ROLE TO PLAY: “Congress needs to do our part to provide the funds and support for the men and women in the agencies who are tasked with securing our border, enforcing our immigration laws, and stemming the flow of drugs—particularly fentanyl—from getting into our country. I stand ready to do that, and have done that through my work on the Appropriations Committee as the ranking member on Homeland Security.”

THE CRISIS HAS COME TO HIM: “Now, there's an irony here, because after two years of neglect, we've seen the need to go to the border in a way dwindled, because the border crisis has actually come to the president, come to Washington D.C., come to West Virginia, come to Denver.”

CAN NO LONGER BE IGNORED: “The impact on too many families, too many businesses, and too many communities along the southern border—even in our state of West Virginia—simply cannot be ignored. I’m glad the president went and now is fully aware, hopefully, of the problem. I sure hope he is ready and willing to act.”

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