House Speaker Mike Johnson Criticizes Border Bill, Demands More

So, the Democrats want to point the finger at Republicans again.

Claiming Republicans are playing politics over the border, and not passing the proposed border bill.

When the truth is House Speaker Mike Johnson simply pointed out that without seeing all the details, the part he did see wasn’t good enough.

Johnson told ABC correspondent:

“From what we’ve seen, clearly, what’s been suggested in this bill is not enough to secure the border,” Johnson told ABC Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott. “And we have to insist — we have a responsibility, a duty, to the American people to insist that the border catastrophe is ended. And just trying to whitewash that or do something for political purposes — that it appears that may be — is not going to cut it and that’s a nonstarter in the House.”

Fox News reports:

Lawmakers often disparage reporters when they ask about hypotheticals. But Senate conservatives scorched the hypothetical bipartisan border security package. Even before they saw it.

“This could cause as many problems as it solves,” predicted Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

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But some on the right were out to kill the bill long before they even knew much about the bill. Frustrated, they complained about a lack of information dribbling out from the tightly held negotiations.

“We’re asking the questions. We’re not getting the answers,” lamented Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc.

Sen. John. Kennedy, R-La., said he wasn’t much of a soothsayer. But Kennedy seemed to know who might be clued in.

“One of the gentlemen under the interstate living on a refrigerator box knows more about it than I do,” said Kennedy.

Conservatives opposed the border bill – long before there was much to know about it. But they had particular enmity for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. They railed at McConnell for even fostering the talks and assigned motive to McConnell’s machinations.

“Sadly, Mitch McConnell’s enemies are conservatives in the Senate and House Republican leadership,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., didn’t channel his inner, legislative shaman to divine what might be in the Senate bill. But Johnson warned last week that the border package was “dead on arrival.” During his maiden floor speech as Speaker, Johnson practically performed karaoke of Adele’s “Rumour Has it” as he blasted what he’s heard about the bill via the Congressional grapevine.

McConnell has been the most ardent backer in Congress of sending money to Ukraine. But after seeing pushback from Republicans about assisting Ukraine last fall, McConnell decided to condition money destined for Kyiv to an effort to secure the border. That launched the bipartisan talks which ran through the holidays. However, McConnell told GOP senators last week that the party was “in a quandary” over money for Ukraine and fixing the border. McConnell declared that the “politics on this have changed.” That briefly cast doubt as to whether the border bill – or for that matter, Ukraine funding – was on ice. But McConnell continued to back the border negotiations – even though many conservatives castigated the discussions.

Democrats’ open-borders agenda has created the worst crisis we’ve ever seen.

Any border deal that normalizes even one illegal crossing will be dead on arrival in the House. pic.twitter.com/DU8WlJgi3H

— Tom Emmer (@GOPMajorityWhip) January 31, 2024

Sen. Republicans respond to Trump, saying the bipartisan border deal is a “betrayal.”

Sen. Lankford: “It’s certainly not a betrayal.”

Sen. Cassidy: “How does he know it’s a betrayal if he hasn’t read it…I mean, don’t be ignorant. Read the bill.” pic.twitter.com/2GZgw190JT

— Republican Voters Against Trump (@AccountableGOP) January 31, 2024

The ever non-helpful KJB gives her thoughts on the border deal:

KJP did NOT like being called out for refusing to talk specifics on the border deal.

KJP: "I'm not gonna get into specifics or details. I just don't want to get involved from here…it's just the right thing to do."

REPORTER: "But from a messaging perspective, Republicans are… pic.twitter.com/KzHU4aZpa0

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 31, 2024