Staff Reports
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) gave President Joe Biden a friendly little nudge during a Wednesday phone call, reminding him that the southern border ain’t gonna secure itself, you know. As the government spending negotiations drag on, Johnson rehashed his points from a letter he sent to the president last month, urging Biden to bring back the good ol’ asylum policies from the Trump days, like that Remain in Mexico program.
.@SpeakerJohnson 'strongly encouraged' Biden to move on border security demands in phone call https://t.co/nVLEHvYCl6 https://t.co/nVLEHvYCl6
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) January 10, 2024
According to a spokesman for Johnson’s office, the Speaker really laid it on thick, strongly encouraging the President to flex his executive muscles and get that southern border locked up tight. In his letter, Johnson pointed out the whopping 2.48 million illegal immigrants that Border Patrol encountered in fiscal 2023, along with 670,000 sneaky “got-a-ways” who slipped in undetected. He even threw in a friendly reminder to bring back the border wall construction and put the kibosh on those pesky “catch-and-release” policies that took the place of “Remain in Mexico.”
Now, all of this chit-chat happened while House conservatives were making some noise about holding back their support on important spending legislation until big changes happen down at the southern border. The clock’s ticking, with just nine days to go before the government potentially enters a partial shutdown. Yikes!
The White House confirmed that the phone call went down but didn’t spill the beans on what was said. Biden has been talking about finding a compromise with lawmakers to unlock some extra cash for Ukraine and Israel, but negotiations in the Senate are still chugging along like a slow-moving train. Looks like we might not see any real action until next week.
But hold on to your hats, folks, because Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) of the House Freedom Caucus is not pleased with the situation. He’s drawing a line in the sand, saying he’s not putting his stamp of approval on anything unless the good folks in Washington get serious about protecting our border. No ifs, ands, or buts.
Time’s ticking away, and lawmakers are rushing to pass some critical spending bills before the government starts running on fumes. If they can’t figure it out by Jan. 19, there’s talk of a partial government shutdown, and nobody wants that mess. The rest of the spending bills don’t expire until Feb. 2, so it’s gonna be a good ol’ wild ride through Capitol Hill in the coming days!
