'This Week' Transcript 3-3-24: Sen. Chris Murphy, Sen. Mike Rounds & Chef José Andrés

Interview

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Yeah.

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Well, first, I was very glad to see the president go to the border. I think Democrats need to go on the offense on this question of controlling the border. The fact of the matter is, we did achieve a bipartisan compromise. It will give the president new powers to get the border under control, and Donald Trump killed it. Donald Trump and the Republicans decided that they want the border to be chaotic. It helps them politically, and polls show that if Democrats just tell that story, if the president tells that story, Republicans' political advantage on the border is erased.

Now, the reality is President Biden needs that legislation because it is just not true that he has the existing authority to issue executive actions that get the border under control.

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I -- listen, I can't tell you whether President Biden is going to move forward on executive action. What I can tell you is that the bipartisan bill had $20 billion of new resources. He can't conjure $20 billion with an executive order that that bill gave him to shut down the border in between the ports of entry. I don't think he can do that by executive action. So, Republicans --

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Those are statutes.

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The president can't modify those statutes with executive orders. And Republicans know this.

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They want the border to be out of control because it helps him politically. And they know the president has limits to what he can do through executive order.

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Well, I don't know that that's fair. In the first week that the president was in office, he sent to Congress a comprehensive immigration and border reform.

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No, it was also an asylum reform bill, right? And reforming the asylum --

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It changes the calculus of (INAUDIBLE) coming to the country. And the president instituted a very tough new regulation that does stop people at the border, does the asylum calculation. It, as expected, was blocked by the courts because he needs, he needs legislative action. And Republicans have made it very clear that they have no interest in coming to the table in the immigration and border reform, and frankly, had we had this conversation a year ago, the calculation would have been no different. Republicans have made it absolutely crystal clear, they want the border to be a mess. Donald Trump has told them so.

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What we also know is that under Donald Trump's presidency, crossings at the border were at 10-year high, and this is exactly why. I think the president and Democrats should go on the offense because the vast majority of the country believes that we should have robust legal immigration, but they want tighter control of the border. And right now, there's only one party that can deliver that. Only the Democrats support pathways to citizenship, support expanding legal pathways into the country, and a tough border law.

Republicans used the issue the immigration to try and divide us from each other, and now, on the record, opposing the toughest border reform bill, the toughest border security bill in decades.

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Well, you know, we treat immigrations compassionately in Connecticut as well. And, listen, I think that speaks to the best of this country. Ultimately, the solution has to be on the border and in the countries that people are fleeing. I don't think it's in the best interest of this country to push immigrants into the shadows once they are here. So, to me, the focus has to be on the border.

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I don't think we should be concerned about this as a political matter because this is such a critical issue relative to America's national security and the security of the Middle East. I would hope that the president doesn't make decisions about what to do in Gaza or the Middle East based upon how the votes lined up.

Listen, I think it is time for the president to use all the levers that he has to get a long term ceasefire. I think if that ceasefire doesn't come in, it's in Israel's interest for them to pause military activity to solve the humanitarian crisis. But to the extent the president is using additional leverage on Israel, he should do that for national security reasons, not for political reasons. These issues are too important to be dictated by the polls.

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Thanks.

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