President Joe Biden is standing by a bipartisan proposal in the Senate covering the border as House Republicans, led by Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, launch opposition to the arrangement.
GOP leadership in the House is saying they won’t even bring it to a vote, characterizing proposed assistance for migrants with integrating into society as giving an incentive for undocumented immigration. Is the GOP ideal just completely shutting the border to everyone who arrives there?
“My message to Speaker Johnson is: Pay attention to what the Senate is doing,” Biden told journalists this week. “We’ve got a bipartisan deal, and you’re going to see the detail of it this week. […] We don’t have enough agents. We don’t have enough folks. We don’t have enough judges. We don’t have enough folks there. We need help. Why won’t they give me the help, all this time? And now, they’re starting about the — about the border. “It’s out of control.” Well, guess what? Everything in that bipartisan bill gives me control, gives us control without being — and still meets the needs of the people being able to come at all — legally come across.”
Biden also referenced how his administration has sought funding that would cover additional technological capacity for going after the dangerous drug fentanyl. “I’ve asked for money for those machines that detect fentanyl,” Biden observed, noting Republicans were “screaming about fentanyl.” The full funding cache proposed by the Biden admin totals $14 billion and would also expand staffing on border enforcement teams.
The border deal might go down in the Senate before it even reaches the House, with a procedural vote forthcoming that’ll also put proposed aid for Ukraine and Israel at stake. “Tomorrow, the American people will find out whether Senators want border security and to combat Putin’s expansionism—OR—whether they want to stand with Trump and Putin and their brand of perpetual chaos,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), currently the Senate Majority Leader, said Tuesday.
