The Biden administration has stepped up finger-pointing at House Republicans, circulating talking points suggesting the GOP plan to avoid a partial government shutdown could be a boon to murderous drug cartels.
House Republicans have been considering a temporary spending patch — known as a continuing resolution, or CR — that would dramatically reduce non-defense and non-veterans discretionary spending. Now the White House insists that the cuts will affect border operations.
“They are holding government funds hostage unless they can block a bill that would eliminate at least 800 border patrol agents and create huge losses for drug cartels,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates wrote in a memo obtained by The Post.
Even if the spending cuts pass the House — no guarantees — they likely won’t go anywhere in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Sen. Min. Leader McConnell sent a sharp message to House Speaker McCarthy:
“A vote against the standard short-term funding measure is a vote against paying over $1 billion in salaries for Border Patrol and ICE agents who work to detect deadly fentanyl and tame our open borders.” pic.twitter.com/dz36nxHzlS
— The Recount (@therecount) September 27, 2023
“A vote against the standard short-term funding measure is a vote against paying over $1 billion in salaries for Border Patrol and ICE agents who work to track down deadly fentanyl and tame our open borders,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky. ) warned on Wednesday.
Ironically, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has framed the shutdown fight in part as a battle over border security.
“I think it’s very important to have a meeting with the president,” McCarthy told reporters Tuesday. “The president can keep the government open by doing something at the border.”
More than 5,000 pounds of methamphetamine were seized in San Diego County from a truck crossing the US border from Mexico. DEAKEVIN MCCARTHY has been grappling with a divided GOP caucus as he tries to negotiate a way out of the government shutdown.REUTERS Speakers have tried to shift responsibility for the government shutdown to President Biden, who has largely stayed out of the GOP fray. Shutterstock
McCarthy has repeatedly cited the influx of immigrants that has overtaken blue states like New York and Massachusetts as a reason to support border security efforts in any new government funding bill.
Most iterations of the stopgap bill being studied by GOP leadership would feature provisions from the Secure Border Act of 2023, including money to build President Donald Trump’s former wall along the US-Mexico border and hire thousands of new Border Patrol agents.
“Republicans are proposing an extreme continuing resolution that would eliminate 800 CBP agents and officers, allow 50,000 pounds of cocaine, more than 300 pounds of fentanyl, more than 700 pounds of heroin, and more than 6,000 pounds of methamphetamine to enter our country,” Bates said in his memo. first reported by Fox News.
Migrants are seen crossing the Rio Grande River from Mexico. James Keivom A Border Patrol boat passes a group of migrants after they cross the Rio Grande River to seek asylum in the US.REUTERS
Bates also touted the administration’s supposed efforts to curb the border crisis, including new sanctions announced Wednesday against “individuals and entities for their role in drug trafficking.”
The US has experienced a record-breaking number of migrant encounters, with more than 2.86 million recorded so far this fiscal year, according to US Customs and Border Protection.
Bates urged Congress to pass a bipartisan CR introduced by the Senate Tuesday night, which would keep the government open until Nov. 17 while also providing more than $6 billion in aid to Ukraine and $6 billion in domestic disaster relief.
McCarthy on Wednesday poured cold water on the prospect of taking the measure up for a vote in the House, saying “I don’t see support” for it.
The partial shutdown will begin on September 30 at 11:59pm unless the House and Senate pass some type of government funding bill and President Biden.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
