WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – a senior member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations – today questioned Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas during an Appropriations Committee hearing on President Biden’s $106 billion supplemental funding package, which includes funding for the southern border.

“I continue to believe the circumstances we face at our borders and elsewhere around our country continue to be a national security challenge for us,” said Sen. Moran. “I’ve been to the border numerous times, particularly in the last two or three years, and each time have had conversations with law enforcement, federal and local, as well as border patrol agents and seen first-hand the apprehension of foreign nationals on our border, including those from China.”

“I am anxious for our efforts to deal with Israel and Ukraine and the challenges we face in the Middle East, but I am also interested in making certain that we take this opportunity, this supplemental, to come together,” continued Sen. Moran. “We’ve heard by a number of my colleagues how we have worked on immigration reform and border security reform without success, and I would hate for us to miss an opportunity in this circumstance if we can put a package together that would be supported by Republicans and Democrats in the Senate and in the House.”

“Comprehensive reforms or changes are advantageous, but it has been my experience in my entire time in Congress that we keep waiting for comprehensive reform and as a result we do next to nothing,” said Sen. Moran. “I hope that you, and the administration, will use this opportunity to seriously work with those of us who are willing to make changes to defeat the circumstance in our national security, this challenge, at least in the things we can agree upon today and continue to work on the things we can’t agree upon. Otherwise my entire time in Congress will be waiting on comprehensive reform.”

Click HERE to Watch Sen. Moran’s Closing Remarks

Click here to watch Sen. Moran’s full questioning to Secretary Mayorkas.

# # #