Home Speaker Mike Johnson criticized President Joe Biden on Wednesday for the “mayhem” he witnessed on the US-Mexico border, saying in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper that the Biden administration isn’t doing its job.
“This disaster can come to an finish if the Biden administration will do its job, and so they refuse to do it,” he mentioned.
Johnson traveled with greater than 60 Home Republicans on Wednesday to Eagle Go, Texas, on the similar time that Republican and Democratic Senate negotiators try to hammer out a bipartisan border settlement as a part of a broader funding bundle for Ukraine, Israel support and border safety – and questions are swirling about how Home Republicans would react ought to a deal be reached.
Within the interview Wednesday, Johnson threw chilly water on the Senate negotiations, arguing the Home Republican border invoice handed final yr was what was wanted. However he additionally didn’t rule out placing a Senate invoice to a vote, saying that it was too quickly for him to say as a result of there is no such thing as a draft invoice but.
Johnson argued that the issue wasn’t going to be solved merely with more cash – the Biden administration requested in its supplemental $14 billion for the border together with extra funds for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan – and mentioned that the Home-passed provisions had been wanted to scale back the variety of folks crossing the border.
“This isn’t about sending more cash down right here, it’s about altering the coverage, and the White Home appears to not perceive that,” Johnson mentioned.
“You’ll be able to’t simply choose and select” single coverage modifications, like reforms to asylum guidelines, Johnson mentioned, and “anticipate that you simply’re going to resolve the issue.”
Johnson visited Eagle Go with a big group of his members because the GOP convention has made the border a focus of its criticism of Biden and his administration. CNN reported Wednesday that Home Republicans are forging ahead with steps to question Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his dealing with of the border.
Mayorkas, nevertheless, mentioned throughout an apperance on “CNN This Morning” on Wednesday that the border safety funding is required “now.”
Within the absence of a border deal, Mayorkas warned, “We won’t have the assets to carry out our jobs as absolutely and utterly as we may accomplish that. And that might be a really unhappy state of affairs.”
“We want extra personnel to advance our safety on the border. We want expertise to advance our combat towards fentanyl. We want extra asylum officers to essentially speed up the asylum adjudication course of,” he mentioned.
The Home’s conservative hardliners need a border invoice that mirrors the Republican Home-passed HR2, which Senate Democrats say is a non-starter. However a rising variety of Home Republicans are additionally signaling they’re prepared to reject a Senate compromise, too.
The Senate negotiations over the border have been ongoing for the previous a number of weeks as Republicans have mentioned they may solely conform to the Biden administration’s request for extra cash to Ukraine if a border bundle can be included.
The supplemental to offer extra cash for the border, Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan is simply one of many tough funding challenges dealing with Congress within the new yr, as a partial authorities shutdown is now less than a month away, too.
Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer informed reporters Wednesday that he wished the Senate to achieve a border deal first when requested whether or not Johnson ought to be extra concerned within the talks. “He’s been fairly concerned within the price range negotiations. On the border, since their place has been they’re not budging off H.R. 2, we wish to get the Senate to come back to an settlement first,” Schumer mentioned.
Forward of Johnson’s go to, Biden administration officers mentioned they had been “inspired by the progress being made” in border negotiations in Congress, whereas highlighting a dramatic drop in border crossings this week.
On Monday, border authorities encountered round 2,500 migrants on the US southern border — a dramatic drop from mid-December when every day arrests topped 10,000, in line with a senior administration official. Fewer than 500 migrants had been apprehended on Monday within the Del Rio sector, which was slammed with 1000’s of arrivals in late December.
The White Home nationwide safety supplemental request additionally contains $14 billion in border safety, and Biden on Tuesday urged Congress to offer the funding.
“We gotta do one thing. They ought to offer me the cash I want to guard the border,” Biden mentioned when requested by a reporter what he’s going to do in regards to the Southern border.
This story and headline have been up to date with extra developments.
CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez, Lauren Fox, Morgan Rimmer and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.