Kelly Calls For Border Security In Maiden Speech Only To Vote Against It

Construction of the border wall came to an abrupt stop by President Joe Biden, leaving area residents left with more problems than just a lack of national security. [Photo by John Backer]

Washington, D.C – In his first speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Mark Kelly called on the federal government to work to secure the border and end the ongoing border crisis. However, moments later Kelly voted against what has been described as a “commonsense amendment to secure the border.”

The amendment to the INVEST in America Act would “prohibit the cancellation of contracts for physical barriers and other border security measures for which funds already have been obligated and for which penalties will be incurred in the case of such cancellation and prohibiting the use of funds for payment of such penalties.”

border wall building materials
Materials to build the Border wall, purchased during the Trump administration, sit and rot near the San Pedro River in Cochise County, Arizona. [Photo by John Backer]

“That amendment would have allowed the border wall to be built where the supplies were already purchased and in place,” one border area resident told the Arizona Daily Independent. “We have the materials here leftover from the Trump administration’s efforts. Instead they are rotting into our soil and God knows what it is doing to our soil and water. Instead Kelly and Biden are just letting it waste away.”

The amendment failed on a mostly party line vote.

On June 10, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott requested all U.S. governors to send available law enforcement resources to their states along the U.S.-Mexico border as illegal border crossings, apprehensions and unaccompanied migrant children in federal custody increase.

Blake Masters, who hopes to make it out of Arizona’s U.S. Senate Republican Primary, blasted Kelly for his vote.

“When it comes to defending our border, Mark Kelly is all talk and no action,” said Masters, who accused Kelly of voting “in lockstep with all the Democrats (except one).” Masters was referring to Sen. Joe Manchin, who Masters says is “the only Democrat in the Senate who recognized the funding that funding completion of the border wall is necessary.”

As Masters noted in his press release, more than 200,000 migrants illegally crossed the Arizona-Mexico border last month alone.

Amendment vote by Senator Name

Baldwin (D-WI), Nay
Barrasso (R-WY), Yea
Bennet (D-CO), Nay
Blackburn (R-TN), Yea
Blumenthal (D-CT), Nay
Blunt (R-MO), Yea
Booker (D-NJ), Nay
Boozman (R-AR), Yea
Braun (R-IN), Yea
Brown (D-OH), Nay
Burr (R-NC), Yea
Cantwell (D-WA), Nay
Capito (R-WV), Yea
Cardin (D-MD), Nay
Carper (D-DE), Nay
Casey (D-PA), Nay
Cassidy (R-LA), Yea
Collins (R-ME), Yea
Coons (D-DE), Nay
Cornyn (R-TX), Yea
Cortez Masto (D-NV), Nay
Cotton (R-AR), Yea
Cramer (R-ND), Yea
Crapo (R-ID), Yea
Cruz (R-TX), Yea
Daines (R-MT), Yea
Duckworth (D-IL), Nay
Durbin (D-IL), Nay
Ernst (R-IA), Yea
Feinstein (D-CA), Nay
Fischer (R-NE), Yea
Gillibrand (D-NY), Nay
Graham (R-SC), Not Voting
Grassley (R-IA), Yea
Hagerty (R-TN), Yea
Hassan (D-NH), Nay
Hawley (R-MO), Yea
Heinrich (D-NM), Nay
Hickenlooper (D-CO), Nay
Hirono (D-HI), Nay
Hoeven (R-ND), Yea
Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Yea
Inhofe (R-OK), Not Voting
Johnson (R-WI), Yea
Kaine (D-VA), Nay
Kelly (D-AZ), Nay
Kennedy (R-LA), Yea
King (I-ME), Nay
Klobuchar (D-MN), Nay
Lankford (R-OK), Yea
Leahy (D-VT), Nay
Lee (R-UT), Yea
Lujan (D-NM), Nay
Lummis (R-WY), Yea
Manchin (D-WV), Yea
Markey (D-MA), Nay
Marshall (R-KS), Yea
McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Menendez (D-NJ), Nay
Merkley (D-OR), Nay
Moran (R-KS), Yea
Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
Murphy (D-CT), Nay
Murray (D-WA), Nay
Ossoff (D-GA), Nay
Padilla (D-CA), Nay
Paul (R-KY), Yea
Peters (D-MI), Nay
Portman (R-OH), Yea
Reed (D-RI), Nay
Risch (R-ID), Yea
Romney (R-UT), Yea
Rosen (D-NV), Nay
Rounds (R-SD), Yea
Rubio (R-FL), Yea
Sanders (I-VT), Nay
Sasse (R-NE), Not Voting
Schatz (D-HI), Nay
Schumer (D-NY), Nay
Scott (R-FL), Yea
Scott (R-SC), Yea
Shaheen (D-NH), Nay
Shelby (R-AL), Yea
Sinema (D-AZ), Nay
Smith (D-MN), Nay
Stabenow (D-MI), Nay
Sullivan (R-AK), Yea
Tester (D-MT), Nay
Thune (R-SD), Yea
Tillis (R-NC), Yea
Toomey (R-PA), Yea
Tuberville (R-AL), Yea
Van Hollen (D-MD), Nay
Warner (D-VA), Nay
Warnock (D-GA), Nay
Warren (D-MA), Nay
Whitehouse (D-RI), Nay
Wicker (R-MS), Yea
Wyden (D-OR), Nay
Young (R-IN), Yea 
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