The conservative House Freedom Caucus and its allies want fellow lawmakers to reject a new government funding plan because they believe it supports the Biden administration's open border policies.
Forty-one Republicans, including Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good (R-Va.) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), signed a letter just before the Friday shutdown deadline urging their colleagues to reject the government funding package.
They're saying that we need to do more than just talk about border security. The letter said that we need to decide if there's a point where we won't let this happen on our watch, or if there's no level of harm to our nation that would make us refuse to fund the government's invasion.They also said that the next government funding package supports various ways that Biden uses to bring millions of people into America, including the exploitation of laws and the facilitation of human trafficking.
The caucus wants the House to bring up a funding measure that includes the main elements of its flagship border bill, known as H.R. 2.
They're calling for the GOP-led House to bring up a spending measure that includes the core parts of their main border bill, instead of the current funding package.
They pointed out that the funding package includes defense spending, but they believe that the power of the purse should be used to stop the radical politicization of the Department of Defense.
The letter comes as a bipartisan deal to fund several government departments and avoid a shutdown is being delayed due to disagreements over the DHS bill.
The leaders originally planned to release the package text on Sunday, but it got delayed because of disagreements over the DHS bill.
When asked about the negotiations on Monday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that DHS needs a bill that adequately funds its operations.
There's a lot of uncertainty about what the full-year funding plan for DHS will look like amid ongoing spending talks, especially since the White House has become involved in the discussions.
Jean-Pierre said that the administration wants to make sure that DHS has the funding it needs to do its job, including security operations at the border and other tasks.
She added that the administration believes that DHS needs additional funding for its security operations and other duties.
Someone who knows about the situation also mentioned on Sunday that part of the disagreement is that Democrats are pushing for more money for equal pay at the Transportation Security Administration, while Republicans want more money for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's detention and enforcement efforts.
