With a disapproval rating of more than 55 percent in an election year, the president will pitch a Senate package that GOP House Republicans say is inadequate.
President Joe Biden will visit the southern border on Feb. 29, the White House announced.
âOn Thursday, President Biden will travel to Brownsville, Texas to meet with U.S. Border Patrol agents, law enforcement, and local leaders,â a White House official told reporters on Feb. 26.
âHe will discuss the urgent need to pass the Senate bipartisan border security agreement, the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border in decades,â the official continued.
âHe will reiterate his calls for congressional Republicans to stop playing politics and to provide the funding needed for additional U.S. Border Patrol agents, more asylum officers, fentanyl detection technology, and more.â
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President Bidenâs border visit comes as Congress has failed to pass border security measures, with most Republicans saying the proposals are inadequate.
The bipartisan border provisionsâas part of a $118 billion package that also included foreign aid to Israel and Ukraineâconsisted of emergency authority for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to shut down the border if an average of 4,000 daily encounters is reached over one week.
If average encounters reach 5,000 a day over the same period, then the DHS secretary would have been required to shut down the border.
The legislation also would have limited the presidentâs parole authority, a power that gives him the ability to allow more illegal immigrants into the country and raises the legal bar for the initial screening of asylum claims.
It also would have expedited the asylum processing time to six months from many years.
GOP Cites Problems
The package didnât include a restoration of President Trumpâs Remain in Mexico policy, which many Republicans have told The Epoch Times is a must-have.
Congressional Republicans have said that border measures have to be included in any bill allocating foreign assistance to Kyiv and Jerusalem in addition to the Indo-Pacific.
âI canât support a bill that doesnât secure the border, provides taxpayer-funded lawyers to illegal immigrants, and gives billions to radical open borders groups. Iâm a âno,ââ Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) wrote on social media platform X.
Mr. Daines called on President Biden, who supports the agreement, to use his existing executive authority to secure the border.
âThroughout this process, I said I was listening and hoping for a solution, but to my disappointment, this bill misses the mark,â Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) wrote.
âThe terrible $118 billion supplemental worsens the border invasion, incentivizes illegal entry, sends more taxpayer dollars to Ukraine, and exacerbates our fiscal crisis,â Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), the chairman of the hardline conservative House Freedom Caucus, wrote on X.
âAmericans will see which Republicans are on their side based on who supports or opposes this disaster.â
The House GOP leadershipâSpeaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), and House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.)âreleased a joint statement on Feb. 5 denouncing the bill.
âHouse Republicans oppose the Senate immigration bill because it fails in every policy area needed to secure our border and would actually incentivize more illegal immigration,â they stated.
âAny consideration of this Senate bill in its current form is a waste of time. It is dead on arrival in the House,â they added. âWe encourage the U.S. Senate to reject it.â
The Senate instead passed a $95 billion bill with the foreign assistance that was in the initial bill but without any border provisions.
Joseph Lord contributed to this report.
Original News Source Link – Epoch Times
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