House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) quickly realized that the U.S. Senate’s “bipartisan” border bill would be “dead on arrival” in the lower chamber, according to a Thursday evening interview.
Johnson spoke with host Laura Ingraham about the border crisis and President Joe Biden’s refusal to do much about it.
“It did not take long to realize that this is dead on arrival. There’s no way we could bring this through the House. The Senate expects us to pass a bill…which you did a great job dismantling here,” Johnson said.
“What it would do is actually further incentivize illegal immigration. Would not resolve any of the problems. Not reform in any meaningful way the broken asylum system. The broken parole process and all the things that have created this catastrophe. And, by the way, meanwhile, it further empowers the very cabinet secretary who designed and created this mess,” he continued.
“They don’t follow federal law. Why would we do this anyway? But the bill itself would actually do more harm than good, and that’s why we have said it’s a nonstarter over here in the House,” Johnson said.
“The American people are running the show here. We are the representatives of our constituents. The American people are on our side. They recognize this catastrophe has been disastrous for the country. Every state is a border state. And everybody knows it. Everybody traveling the country, Laura, since I have been speaker of the House, 15 states doing events,” he said.
“Doesn’t matter — out in the West. Midwest, Long Island, the Deep South, and South Florida, the message is the same. Number one issue on the hearts and minds of the American people. We have to solve this crisis,” Johnson added.
Continuing, Johnson added: “I’m going to make this point again because Senator Schumer isn’t listening, apparently. The president of the United States has the authority right now to fix this crisis. He has broad executive authority under the federal statutes, and Chuck Schumer knows it, and President Biden knows it. And he refuses to use that. They could stop this; they could stop the flow immediately. They don’t want to, Laura. I think you alluded to a few moments ago exactly why that is.”
“We have the job explaining the real details of what this actually would accomplish. And in our view, it’s an immigration bill. Not a border security bill. We have to secure that border. We have an obligation to do it. It’s a moral obligation; it’s a legal and constitutional obligation. The White House has done this by design,” the Speaker said.
