Speaker Johnson’s Moment Of Truth
By Joe Guzzardi
With a Nov. 17 deadline looming to pass a new budget, and with lingering GOP divisions over former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ousting, House Speaker Mike Johnson faces a tall challenge. But, in the short time that he’s has been Speaker, Johnson has built significant good will among his peers and generated excitement among the GOP voting base.
One thing Johnson can’t afford to do in the budget discussions is come away empty-handed. With the border wide-open, and terrorism suspects easily infiltrating the interior, the budget squabble is the ideal time to insist that the strong border enforcement HR-2 bill be included in any legislation that provides funding for the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
House Republicans have slowed their Ukraine enthusiasm, understandably so. Reports from the U.S. State Department Office of Inspector General and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget showed that, to date, the U.S. has approved about $113 billion in aid to Ukraine. Biden vowed in his September speech to the UN that the U.S. will “continue to stand with Ukraine” indefinitely. Many House Republicans reasonably question where, with a $33 trillion deficit, the money will come from.
The open-borders’ negative effect on Americans is ongoing and continuous with a dramatic, adverse impact on schools, hospitals, communities and crime. Countless millions of illegal aliens, literally, have been processed at the border, with some flown during the middle of the night into major airports, compliments of an unlawful Biden program, the CBP-One app. Others have snuck in. These gotaways have alluded the otherwise occupied Customs and Border Patrol officers. CPB agents are processing, not arresting, removable aliens.
HR-2 would 1) prevent the Biden administration from continuing its policy of catch-and-release, thereby discouraging future illegal immigrant waves, 2) stop the surges of family units and unaccompanied alien children which would protect them from cartel and traffickers’ criminal exploitation, 3) enforce expiration dates on visas and ensure that nonimmigrants depart on a timely basis, actions that would deter overstays and 4) end parole abuse in which the administration has illegally rewarded aliens with work permission and other affirmative benefits. Crimes related to parole have all been committed in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Biden and his aide-de-camp, Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, have been, since Inauguration Day 2021, negligent, incompetent and criminal in their disregard for national security, with tragic consequences inevitable. The spotlight now falls on Johnson whose impressive voting record promotes a pro-America agenda. Johnson has consistently voted for stronger border and interior security, tighter asylum laws and eliminating amnesty enticements.
Within the GOP conference, stopping Biden’s border invasion has near-unanimous support, great news for Johnson. Even immigration apologists want immediate action to end the invasion. Johnson’s moment of truth will arrive soon. If Johnson doesn’t make good on his agenda, to quote verbatim an Arizona CBP border officer when Biden ended Title 42, America is “screwed.”
Joe Guzzardi is an Institute for Sound Public Policy analyst who has written about immigration for more than 30 years. Contact him at jguzzardi@ifspp.org.