The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“Border Security (Executive Session)” mentioning Patrick J. Leahy was published in the Senate section on pages S1742-S1743 on March 24.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
Border Security
Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I am glad to hear the distinguished Senator, my colleague and friend, speak about the problems on the southern border.
I feel for President Biden because he inherited a horrible mess from his predecessor, a man who said that he would build a wall, which he didn't--a wall that would stop illegal immigration, which it didn't--
and that he would build it, saying he would get the money from Mexico, knowing that he would not get 1 cent from Mexico, but he repeated that falsehood hundreds of times around this country. He also actually took money away from housing for families on our military bases, from families living in substandard housing. It was money that Congress had voted for to repair the housing to make it safe, to remove lead, mold, and so on. He took that money to build a wall that he claimed, as I said, Mexico would pay for.
When I was the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, we passed by about a 2-to-1 margin, after months and months and months of debate and work, an immigration bill here in the Senate. Republicans and Democrats voted for it, and it certainly could have solved all of these problems.
When it went over to the House of Representatives, there were enough votes to pass it there, but it would not be with a majority of the Republicans. The Republican Speaker said that he could not bring up the bill, even though it had passed, because it was violating a rule very sacred to them, a rule named after Dennis Hastert, a former Speaker, and they could not violate the great respect they had for Dennis Hastert and his rule. So, even though it had passed, they did not bring it up. Of course, subsequent to that, Dennis Hastert went to prison for child abuse.
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