Republican members of Congress issued a harsh threat in their battle for stricter border controls on Wednesday, announcing their readiness to shut down the government if Democrats do not agree to their demands before the January 19 deadline for passing the new fiscal year 2024 budget.
Key Facts
Several Republican members of Congress, including Matt Gaetz (Florida), Andy Biggs (Arizona), and Chip Roy (Texas), tweeted on Wednesday that “Close the borders, or we will close the government,” while Mike Johnson (the Speaker of the House from Louisiana) led more than 60 Republican members on a visit to the southern border in Eagle Pass, Texas.
These statements come amid a failure of Senate negotiators to reach an agreement on new border security measures linked to additional assistance for Ukraine, indicating Republican plans to leverage another high-stakes legislative issue— the fiscal year 2024 budget—to enforce their border demands.
Main Criticism
Karen Jean-Pierre, the White House Press Secretary, tweeted in response to the Republican threats to shut down the government: “It’s time for House Republicans to be serious, do their job, and deliver for the American people. Funding the government shouldn’t be hard, that’s their core responsibility.”
Background
The House passed a temporary funding bill in November to continue government funding and avoid a shutdown, but the funding is set to expire on January 19. After Republicans took control of the House with a slim majority in the 2022 midterm elections, they made border security a top priority in the 118th Congress, coinciding with the expiration of modern pandemic-related border controls from the Trump era and a rise in border crossings, hitting an all-time monthly high in December. The House passed the border bill in May just days before the expiration of the health emergency declaration under Title 42 that allowed border officials to deny immigrants before they could formally apply for asylum to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, the bill died in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and Biden threatened a veto.
Recent Developments
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) told reporters on Wednesday that senators have not yet reached an agreement on border issues as part of the Ukraine aid package, but he said they have made “progress” during the congressional winter break and that they are “closer than we were.” Schumer also criticized the Republican members of Congress who left Washington to visit Eagle Pass during negotiations, telling reporters, “The way to get something done is to work… I hope the Speaker understands that if he wants to solve the problem at the border.” Democratic members of the Senate have also expressed the need to strengthen border security, and Biden has requested $12 billion for border funding in his joint proposal for aid to Ukraine and Israel, but it seems that asylum restrictions and humanitarian release policies have become points of partisan contention.
Leave a Reply