The White House is refusing to let the idea of shirking official responsibility land on the Biden team.
A statement published Saturday on the official X (Twitter) account for the White House goes after House Republicans for taking a recess — meaning break from the bulk of official business in Washington, D.C. — amid continued openings for action in areas like the border. Republicans claim (incorrectly) that there’s an “invasion” unfolding there, demanding urgent action — but Republicans also rejected a bipartisan border deal presented in the Senate, rebuffed $14 billion proposed by the White House for border security funding, and now this.
“House Republicans have spent years saying they want to secure the border. President Biden had a deal with a bipartisan group of Senators to secure the border. House Republicans said no. Now, they’re on recess for almost two weeks instead of funding border security. They’re playing politics. Not doing their jobs,” the White House’s statement said.
And what Republicans have left behind would have made real impacts, including in going after the dangerous drug fentanyl — one of the actual problems related to the southern border, as opposed to distracting right-wing delusions that foreign criminal organizations have completely taken control of it.
Now, Republicans in the House are also facing pressure around a national security deal recently passed by the Senate that sets up a raft of foreign aid, including assistance for Ukraine amid that Eastern European country facing an ongoing Russian invasion. Some argue that the U.S. has a strategic interest in seeing a Russian defeat. Trump, meanwhile — who remains the front-runner for this year’s presidential nomination from the GOP, is sticking by his own threatening suggestion of openly encouraging a Russian military advance on NATO members if they fall short of ostensible financial obligations, the nature of which Trump misrepresents. (They’re not organizational dues but rather a long-term agreement for domestic spending on national defense.)
