WASHINGTON, D.C.—House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) questioned House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on when the American people can expect a serious counteroffer from Democrats on opening the government and securing our border, and why the Democrats voted to adjourn and go home for the weekend while the government remains closed. During the debate, Whip Scalise emphasized Republicans’ commitment to keeping America safe by improving border security to the levels experts say is required, while Democrats refuse to acknowledge the serious crisis at the border and continue to obstruct.

Check out highlights from the colloquy below and click here for the full video.

On Democrats’ claim that this is a ‘fabricated crisis’:
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“Now I know the Minority Leader and the Speaker went on TV the other night and said it’s a ‘fabricated crisis’. How could you call this a fabricated crisis? When you see deaths, when you see over 90% of the heroin that comes into this country and kills Americans every single day is coming across our southern border. That’s not a fabricated crisis. Those are real, serious things that are happening. That are bad.”

On the truth about the crisis at the border: 

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“The President has been talking about a crisis at the border. The crisis at the border is very real. In our first meeting with the leaders in the situation room at the White House both the Speaker and the Minority Leader of the Senate interrupted the Secretary of Homeland Security every time she tried to go through this new crisis that we’re seeing. It’s not just the drugs, which are dramatic and we need to stop. It’s not just the human trafficking, which is dramatic and we need to stop. It’s not just the murders that are happening.”

 

On Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s outright refusal to negotiate with President Trump:


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“We could have everything open today, but the Speaker is the one who is being held hostage by the far left elements of your party because she’s yet to agree to anything—not putting more than $1. She said on TV last week she’d support $1. That’s an insult.”
On Democrats’ decision to adjourn instead of continuing government funding negotiations:

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“Let’s talk now about the final issue and that is adjournment. I know later today the House will be voting to adjourn. Last week, the House under Democrat majority—as you proudly talk about the fact that y’all are in the majority—y’all voted to adjourn. We voted not to adjourn. We should stay here to get this job done, to finally have a real negotiation to solve our differences. We can solve our differences, but we are not going to solve them by continuing to adjourn every weekend when we should be negotiating and getting the government back open and securing the border.”