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WASHINGTON – On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined Amna Nawaz on PBS NewsHour to discuss the Senate’s national security supplemental package, which would provide $118.28 billion in funding for Ukraine, Israel, and U.S. border security.

Earlier today, Senator Cramer released an official statement on the Senate border security bill, emphasizing the need for every piece of legislation to go through the formal committee review process.

On the Negotiating Process:

“…This process has been bad from the beginning. It's been too secretive, too closed, and not transparent through a committee process like it should be. James Lankford did a masterful job, and there is nobody that could do it better in negotiating […] If ‘dead on arrival’ is the standard [in Congress], there is not a lot of point in spending more political capital, when there are other priorities even in this bill that have to get funded, like support for Israel and support for Ukraine. It’s a combination of politics, moving parts, changing narratives, for sure, but the biggest issue is the process, and that's what bothers me. Four months of negotiating in good faith, but largely in secret, leading to final text, and then Chuck Schumer wants to put it on the floor right away [...] before everybody has had the chance to read the text.”

On Navigating a Divided Government:

“In a world of divided government, incremental change in the right direction is still better than no change in the right direction. I think the substance of this bill, where there's some problems, is there's an awful lot of generosity for legal counsel, for example, illegal aliens, open-ended dollar amounts which could be problematic, sanctuary cities. Here we are going to reward the pull factor that attracts people in the first place to run this risk. […] The political will is not there right now.”

On Donald Trump's Influence on the Border Bill: 

“It’s not irrelevant, the former president who demonstrated he could provide border security, in contrasting with the current president who is now going to be his opponent, who has done nothing except to let 10 million people illegally into the country and wave them on through. This is pretty clear cut when you look at the two men running for president. Who does a better job? I'm just saying as senators, we have to make up our own mind with the facts on the ground, and I think the National Border Patrol Council makes a very, very good point, and has been very involved with the ad hoc committee that was working on this.”

On Ukraine Funding Provisions in the Supplemental Bill:

“Remember, the reason we have the border piece into this supplemental is because people who didn't want to support Ukraine insisted on it. […] I love the fact that we had an opportunity to secure our border as well as Ukraine's. Both are really important, either together or separately, and I remain committed to that. I think the [Biden] administration waited way too long and moved way too slowly to support Ukraine or maybe they would’ve won this war by now. It's still in our national best interest to provide them the lethal aid they need. I’d like to see us strip some of the humanitarian aid and direct government support and rather focus on helping them win the war. That’s what’s in America’s best interest.”