10
Loading video...
By Natalie Venegas
Weekend Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
House Speaker Mike Johnson gave a four-word response on Tuesday over claims he is killing the border deal to help former president Donald Trump.
Congress has sought to pass a bill to tackle what Republicans have dubbed a "border crisis" amid an uptick in asylum seekers entering the United States. There were more than 2.4 million encounters at the border during the 2023 fiscal year, up from roughly 1.7 million in 2021, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.
However, the GOP-led House does not appear to agree with the bipartisan bill proposed by a coalition of Democratic and Republican senators, as conservative hardliners argue the bill would not go far enough to end illegal immigration into the U.S. In addition, Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, has previously said the Senate deal would be "dead on arrival in the House."
Read More
Mike Johnson Makes Marjorie Taylor Greene ‘Very Happy’5 min read
Joe Biden Says He’s Done All He Can Do About U.S.-Mexico Border4 min read
Texas Border Crossings Surge Amid Biden-Abbott Clash4 min read
While speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Johnson was asked by CNN's chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju about concerns over the border deal and if the Republican is trying to kill the deal in order to help out Trump in his presidential campaign.
"Have you spoken to [Trump] about the Senate [border] proposal, and are you simply trying to kill this to help him out in the campaign?" Raju asked.
However, Johnson rejected the claim by stating, "No, Manu, that's absurd."
"We have a responsibility here to do our duty. Our duty is to do right by the American people, to protect the American people. First, the most important job for the federal government is to protect its citizens, we are not doing that under President Biden," Johnson added.
Newsweek has reached out to Johnson's office, Trump's campaign and Biden's campaign via email for comment.
Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, has urged Republicans not to accept anything less than a "perfect" border deal before the general election in November, sparking questions about whether some Republicans are working to prevent Biden from scoring a victory by signing the border bill into law.
"I have talked to former president Trump about this issue at length and he understands that, he understands we have a responsibility to do here. President Trump of course wants to secure the country, he is the one who talked about border security before anyone else did, he ran on, as you remember, building the wall why because he saw this catastrophe coming. He knew that if we did not get control of it we would be in this situation," Johnson said.
Concerns over Trump weighing in on the border bill also come after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, has recently taken heat for new comments that suggest that Trump wants to make immigration a central theme for his 2024 campaign—despite Republican legislators working to improve the situation at the border or to provide more foreign aid for Ukraine amid its ongoing war with Russia.
McConnell reportedly told Senate Republicans that the GOP should not do anything to "undermine" their party's presumed nominee, adding, "The politics on this have changed."
Meanwhile, Senator James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican, voiced criticism of Republicans opposing the bill during an interview on Fox News Sunday.
"It's interesting. Republicans four months ago would not give funding for Ukraine, Israel and for our southern border because we demanded changes in policy," he said. "So we actually locked arms together and said, 'We're not going to give you money for this. We want a change in law.'"
...
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines