The best thing to do is pass a strong, big supplemental with a strong bipartisan support and that may force the house to act. Thanks, everybody. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2023] captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org. Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mcconnell following deadly attacks by hamas in the southern part of the country and republicans will be examining Biden Administration request that will include funding for israel and ukraine. Thank you for coming. Senator mcconnell obviously much has happened since we were last together. I remember, and you may well remember this, too, bob gates said after the berlin wall came down we had holiday. And if you recall, we saw big competition with and our challenges would be against terrorism. We certainly had terrorism. We had war in afghanistan and war in iraq, all related to terrorism or the fear of terrorism. Now, regretfully as we have learned in the last week, we still have terrorism and whats changed is we have two big power competitors at the same time. So the holidays from history is clearly over. We anticipate and you have been writing about it, the administration will send up a supplemental that deals with israel, ukraine, taiwan and republicans are going to want something serious about the border. And so well take a look at the package when they send it up. Make suggestions to improve it if thats needed, but clearly the world has changed dramatically in the last 10 days. All of us are heart broken and disgusted by the atrocities committed by hamas against israel. There are some in this country and you see it more on our college and University Campuses dont see this issue with moral clarity, but it really is an example of unspeakable evil committed against innocent civilians, innocent children and i can say that the republican conference stands in solidarity with israel and its right not only to exist, but also to defend itself and protect its citizens from these types of attacks. The administrations focus should be on getting americans home, working on trying to free up some of the hostages that are held in gaza and i hope that is first and foremost what they work on. As you think about this issue and the issue of National Security, the director of f. B. I. Warned there could be copycat attacks here in the United States and that bears on one of the issues that the leader mentioned that whatever package is put forward by the white house, that we deal with the issue of our southern border. And if you look at just in the last two years, they have a category called special interest aliens and 659 iranians that they have apprehended trying to come across our southern border. Last year, 151 people on the terrorist watch list who have been apprehended at our southern border, which is more than the last six years, six years combined. This is a National Security issue. And it demands attention from this administration. And so i hope that as we anticipate and contemplate dealing with a package up here that addresses the needs in israel and taiwan, that focuses clearly on the National Security challenges we have here right at home, and pourous southern border that this administration has ignored since the time it took office. National security starts with Border Security and under joe biden our country is a lot less safe because our southern border is wide open. If you talk to Border Patrol, they will tell you that bad people are coming in record numbers from around the world. Terrorists, criminals exploiting the significant increase in the flow of illegal immigrants. Hundreds on the f. B. I. Terrorist watch list have been apprehended and cant tell us how many are here already because under joe biden, close to two million immigrant gotaways got here. The department ofhomeland security issued additional terror warnings last month about increased terrorism and criminal actors. The world watched the horror of hamas in israel a week and a half ago. Women, children tortured, raped, beheaded, 30 americans killed, others held captive. Terrorists would love to see the exact same thing happen to us right here. Joe bidens open border policy thinks that our greatest threat of terrorism, republicans have solutions that will actually work, our secure the border act of 2023 has passed the house already. It provides the manpower and technology and actual physical barrier to work against illegal immigration and protect our communities and protect our citizens. Under joe biden, he has undermined our nations safety and security. The United States stands firmly beside israel. I was privileged to lead a delegation that was bipartisan into the middle east this past week, our final destination was israel. Unfortunately we found out about the attacks upon israel by hamas. Our journeys were stalled but the delegation and i were able to travel into israel and met with many of the israeli leaders including the prime minister. So this president has failed in many different respects. First, we need to be focused on the release of the hostages. Our hearts are just in agony. As i spoke to the families of the israelis who have loved ones that were murdered and taken away into the gaza strip, i spoke with americans in israel who have family members that were affected by the terrorist attacks in israel, we must focus on getting these hostages back. These loved ones are in dire straits, not knowing their brothers, sisters, their parents have been tortured or killed by hamas. And make no bones about it, the Hamas Terrorists that are holding these hostages, they are backed by iran. They are backed by iran. And we see this administration appeasing the iranians. Since President Biden took office, he has lined the pockets of the iranians by 80 billion and we know that those funds go directly to terrorist organizations. Hamas, 93 of their funding comes from iran. 100 of the funding to the Palestinian Islamic jihad comes from iran. They sponsor many other terrorist organizations around the region. We need to step up as america and push back not just against the terrorists, but against this Iranian Regime and tell our president that it is absolutely unacceptable to continue with his appeasement towards the iranians. We must stand with the israelis, american and israeli lives are on the line. You are going to hear a lot of us very united in terms of israel. I cant Start Talking without expressing my sadness and horror of what we have seen happening. And tell my husband to call me later it is just unbelievable to see the heartlessness, the brutality, inhuman an attacks. I questioned myself a lot thinking how does your heart get so cold and so filled with hate that you can do such crimes against humanity and innocent babies and children . That behooves us here today to echo what everybody else has said, we must stand with israel against the terrorists. We have a lot on our plate. We have the ukranian aid that we need to be serious about and consider and move forward with and israeli situation and the fight against terrorism. And you might say, how can we possibly manage all of this . You know how we can do it . We are the superpower and beacon of freedom, the one country in the world that has allies, the friendship and the confidence to be able to go forward with meaningful aid, meaningful support and how much that reverb rates around the globe. Next several weeks. We are going to be looking at not just israel and helping in ukraine and around the world. This is a pivotal time. And time for us to look not inward but outward because in the end it is our National Security. I he can ode those concerns on our southern border. Do we know whats going on, whats coming in what kind of cells are coming in. So with that, i would say, i stand with israel as i stand with all of you and much, many, many folks across this great country. Afghanistan, algeria, bangladesh, egypt, iran, iraq, jordan, libya, morocco, north korea, pakistan, somalia, yemen, why did i just name off those countries . This is not an exhaustive list. I was at the southern border on wednesday, october 11, i asked Border Patrol agents who has entered this country in the last 10 days . Our Border Patrol agents encountered one person in each of those countries in the first 10 days of october. In fact, when i was there, the Processing Center near mccollum texas, they encountered four syrian men overnight by Border Patrol. This is a National Security threat. There have been 1. 5 million known gotaways and eight million that Border Patrol encountered. What is a known gotaway . That means they have physical eyes on somebody crossing but not able to comprehend apprehend. I asked what are not known getaways and he said 50 on top of the 1. 5 million. On day one, joe biden put up an open house and the world has noticed and flooding us down south. It is easier for a potential terrorist to come across our southern border and once they are here, they are being released in our country without a trace. Evil regimes like hamas attacked and adversaries are emboldened and should be concerned about terrorist cells moving in the United States. And if joe biden wont secure the border now, when will they do it . Time to secure our southern border and start enforcing the rule of law. [indiscernible question] senator mcconnell terrorist organization just like hamas funded by the same sources and netanyahu is one of the greatest leaders. Can i ask about the supplemental. We have to address the problem outlined in the beginning it is part of a broader concern developed during the ukraine war. And you see the concern about ukraine. He wanted to send president xi a message, beat putin in ukraine. This is all interconnected. The north koreans, iranians, russians and chinese, sort of, on the same side against the democratic world. So there is a connection from all of this and im not surprised that the administration is sending up a broad package and my colleagues have pointed out needs to be credible, not just sore reference to it, but credible dealing with the problem that the senator just pointed out. [indiscernible question] senator mcconnell you guys cover the house. I have my hands full here in the senate. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2023] captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org. Since 1979, in partnership with the cable industry, cspan has provided complete coverage of the halls of congress from the house and Senate Floors to congressional hearings, party briefings and committee meetings, cspan gives you a front row seat with no commentary and no interruptions and completely unfiltered. Cspan, your unfiltered view of government. Cspan washington journal involving you to discuss the latest issues of government, politics and Public Policy from washington, d. C. , and across the country. Coming up wednesday morning, the latest in the House Speaker vote from the capitol with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and President Bidens trip to israel. Cspans washington journal join in live on cspan, cspannow or online at cspan. Org. Tonight, watch cspan series in partnership with books that shape america and mark twains novel written in 1894. Because of the subject matter. The book has sold more than 20 million copies and