Speaker of the House Mike Johnson says “now” House Republicans will “begin in earnest” to address the U.S. southern border, after he and Donald Trump were central to killing bipartisan Senate legislation that did just that, while he warned that the House is “not going to be forced into action” by the U.S. Senate.
For the better part of a year House Republicans have increasingly fixated on border issues, using them to attack President Joe Biden and Democrats. For months Senate Democrats and Republicans have been working together to craft bipartisan legislation that strongly addresses border issues, providing over $7 billion to help border patrol agents and the Dept. of Homeland Security handle the influx of immigrants crossing the border. Ultimately, Trump, Johnson, and Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell quashed that bill.
“You yourself were part of killing the Senate compromise bill,” a reporter told Johnson Wednesday morning at his press conference. “You called it ‘dead on arrival.'”
“So my question to you is, while you say there need to be solutions, what are House Republicans doing to get to a solution on the border, and on Ukraine. Or are you going to actually do nothing? What is your proposal, what are you doing?” the reporter asked pointedly.
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“We’re addressing each of those issues,” Johnson insisted.
“There are important issues on the table. We are not going to be forced into action by the Senate, who, in the latest product they sent us over does not have one word in the bill about America’s border. Not one word about security,” Johnson said, making clear he will not bring to the House floor the bipartisan bill the Senate passed about 36 hours ago that contains critical military aid funding for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan with humanitarian aid for Gaza.
“The reason that the other one was dead on arrival,” Johnson claimed, “is because it did not meet the moment, it would not have solved the problem. You can’t leave giant loopholes and codify some of the things that have gotten us into this situation.”
Assuring reporters that “there are lots of ideas on the table on how to address these issues,” Johnson said they “will address the issues, we’ll do our duty on that matter. And and all that begins in earnest right now.”
“We have to address this seriously,” Johnson concluded. “We have to actually solve the problems and not just take political posturing as has happened in some of these other corners.”
The Speaker and his leadership team then walked away, refusing to take a question of funding to keep the government open.
Critics quickly blasted Johnson.
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“The republicans killed the border security deal they demanded, are threatening to kill any aid to Ukraine, and preside over the least productive Congress in decades. Republicans don’t have plans and they really can’t govern!” responded U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ).
Aaron Fritschner, Deputy Chief of Staff for U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) responded to Johnson’s remarks, writing on X:
“Mike Johnson: No Ukraine $ without border security
Johnson also: No Ukraine $ with border security
Mike Johnson: Congress doesn’t have to address border
Johnson also: Congress must address border
Mike Johnson: The Senate must act
Johnson also: I don’t care what the Senate does”
The Biden campaign quickly jumped on Johnson’s remarks: “Mike Johnson, who just sabotaged a bipartisan bill to secure the border because Trump told him to, says politicians have to stop ‘political posturing’ and ‘solve the problems.'”
Watch Johnson’s remarks below or at this link.
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