In a statement, Texas Senator John Cornyn (R) expressed his disapproval of President Joe Biden’s (D) proposed funding for border security.
Sen. Cornyn claimed that Pres. Biden’s priorities were "misplaced".
"Last week… President Biden released his budget for the next fiscal year, which gave us an unvarnished view of what he truly values, and in countless ways, it stands in stark contrast to what he's told the American people," stated the Texas lawmaker.
The president has come under increased scrutiny concerning the border, and, in the statement, the Texas senator added to those criticisms.
"Despite saying he cares about the border, President Biden has made it absolutely clear he isn't serious about addressing the crisis at our southern border," stated the senator.
Biden’s proposed amount for funding is over $500 million. However, Cornyn believes the amount is much smaller when put into perspective.
"While the President's request for $535 million may sound like a lot of money – and it is a lot of money – but when you compare it to other line-items in his budget, it starts to look a whole lot smaller," stated Cornyn.
"The White House wants to spend even more money on the Department of Homeland Security's ‘Climate Resilience Program.’ Climate resilience – a whopping $4 billion they want for that."
Cornyn continued, stating, "That’s more than seven times higher than what the President proposed for border security technology."
"We need more boots on the ground. We desperately need more Border Patrol agents on the front lines," stated the Texas representative.
Despite disagreeing with the Biden administration’s handling of the issue, the senator did agree that they did share some of the same desires.
Cornyn stated, "The administration wants to hire an additional 350 Border Patrol agents, which would be a great start, but the White House isn't taking any action to address underlying barriers to hiring those agents."
"It wouldn't matter if the White House called for 10,000 new Border Patrol agents in its budget," he continued.
The Texas senator’s grievances also include: "the broken application process" for migrant workers and the time it has taken for the Biden administration to fix it.
"The agency wouldn't be able to fill the spots until the administration fixes the broken application process, and we have seen no independent indication of their plans to do so," stated the Texas representative.
The congressman called for new action, stating, "These additions are desperately needed, but that's only one piece of the solution. A huge part of the solution lies in deterrence."
Cornyn drew attention to the possible misuse of claiming asylum.
"If people with frivolous asylum claims see they'll be quickly removed from the United States, they aren’t likely to attempt the journey to our border in the first place."
One of the Texas lawmaker’s final issues with the Biden administration’s border policy was the lack of protective measures to remove migrants who break the law.
"The White House has proposed adding more personnel to process migrants and then release them, but it doesn't want to hire more people who will actually remove people who break our laws," stated Cornyn.
"Based on his own assessment strategy, President Biden does not value border security because his budget certainly does not reflect it."
"His budget is not a serious proposal to gain operational control of the border.," stated Cornyn.
"It's more talk with no action."
