A multitude of U.S. lawmakers commented on the bipartisan Senate border deal that was released on Sunday. Representatives Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) spoke with Texas Politics regarding the proposal.
According to CNN, the deal would still allow an influx of illegal immigrants into the country through the southern border but provide $20.23 billion for “operational needs and capabilities” and resources for the newly proposed border policies.
The $118.2 billion package in total would offer more than $60 billion in aid to Ukraine and $14.1 billion for Israel as well.
Rep. Crenshaw was asked about whether the bill’s fate should deter President Joe Biden (D) from attempting to relieve the border crisis.
“He should’ve used executive action the whole time and just not rescinded the executive actions of the last administration. There’s a lot of should’ve,” said Rep. Crenshaw.
He continued by mentioning that he is still for changing the laws on the books so that they are certainly enforced.
“I’m still in favor of law changes that just forced that kind of thing (executive action on the border), then there’s loopholes that need to be changed. Obviously, there’s a reason we passed HR 2. Of course, he should do that, but [Biden’s] not going to though.”
In January of 2023, Rep. Crenshaw and Representative Mike Waltz (R-FL) introduced a bill that would authorize military use against cartels. Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) tapped the Texas Republican to lead a Congressional task force on the matter.
In response to the appointment, Crenshaw said that he was proud to be heading a "task force specifically focused on neutralizing the Mexican drug cartels.”
Crenshaw warned that “the cartels have operational control over our southern border, facilitate and take advantage of our immigration crisis, and are killing tens of thousands of Americans every year with fentanyl."
Furthermore, when asked about the Senate border deal, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene echoed the words of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) who has declared the proposal was “dead on arrival.”
“It’s dead. We’re not even talking about it. At this point, the press is the only people talking about it. We’re not [mentioning it] in our conference, it’s dead on arrival. Our entire leadership said it’s dead on arrival, I said it’s dead on arrival weeks ago,” said Rep. Taylor Greene.
When asked if President Biden should use executive power to relieve the border crisis, the Georgia congresswoman referred him and others in Democratic leadership to HR 2, a border security bill that Republicans passed in May.
“The President should look at HR 2 and the Senate should look at HR 2 and Chuck Schumer and our supposed Republican leader Mitch McConnell over there should look at HR 2.”
This is a developing story.
