WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement after voting no on the funding bill due to lack of border security policies:
“Today’s vote on a supplemental funding package for aid to Israel, Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific, and our nation’s border was rightly reported by many media outlets as ‘symbolic.’ It was indeed symbolic because it was an unserious proposal that omitted any substantive policy changes that would secure our southern border. Of course Republicans cannot and will not support a spending bill that doesn’t address the dire situation our country is in – Democrats know that.
“Today, the U.S. has open borders. We have an obligation first to our own constituents to secure our country. The vast majority of Republicans, myself included, also know we must safeguard our nation against the threats coming from China and Russia, and we have a moral and legal obligation to do what we can to help Israel and Ukraine defend themselves against terrorism and tyranny. However, we cannot do these things while ignoring the severe threat on our own border. The blame here does not lie with Republicans – it lies with Democrats who walked away from negotiations because they are beholden to their progressive base. That is why I voted against today’s symbolic and unserious vote, and will continue to do so until Democrats accept a serious change to our border policies.”
###