Chairman Arrington Joins Fox News to Discuss the Cost of the Border Crisis
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX) appeared on Fox News’ Fox News Live program to discuss the committee’s upcoming hearing entitled “The Cost of the Border Crisis.” The hearing will be held at 10:00am ET, Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in the House Budget Committee hearing room, 210 Cannon House Office Building.
Watch Chairman Arrington’s full interview with Fox News HERE. Find highlights of key moments below:
Chairman Arrington on the Cost of the Border:
“Well, we're borrowing $100,000 a second, $8 billion a day. We're borrowing $2 trillion a year just to fund this federal government that continues to grow and encroach on the lives of the American people. So, no we can't afford it. We are off the rails; the national debt is unsustainable. This Administration has added $7 trillion to the national debt. And we're spending hundreds of billions of dollars for this border crisis. Look, the social cost of public safety, security, and the humanitarian cost are unprecedented. We will highlight what the border crisis is costing the American taxpayer at every level - local, state and federal. And by the way, it breaks down to about $9,000 per illegal immigrant in this country. We don't even spend that for the most vulnerable American citizen in the way of Medicaid benefits. And so, it's just part of the recklessness and fiscal irresponsibility of this administration. And we've got to rein it in, and we've got to change course, or will bankrupt this country.”
Chairman Arrington on the Cost of the Border Crisis to Local Governments:
“State and local governments bear the greatest burden. And they can't borrow from China. So, they either have to offset it by cutting services to their citizens, or they have to get back into the pocketbooks of their citizens of their state. It's untenable for them. It's education at about $70 billion across the country. At the state level. It's $90 billion for additional police cost. We'll have a guy from McKinney County at our hearing. This is a rural county of 3,200 people. Their criminal cases that they have to adjudicate every year has gone from 134, before Biden took office to now 15,000 criminal cases. That's $10 million. That's one out of the 254 counties in the great state of Texas. So, this is unconscionable. And we've got to expose the fiscal implications of this for taxpayers and for the American people."
Chairman Arrington on President Biden's Border Failures:
"The laws on the books say that we must detain illegal immigrants. We had a very effective programs for border security and for stopping illegal immigration in the previous Administration. This president knows exactly what works. Remain in Mexico. Stop catch and release. Just restoring the rule of law and defending our sovereign border. But for the first 100 days of this Administration, President Biden had an executive order that unraveled this. So that's why we have soaring crime, drugs, record migrant deaths, record number of people on terrorist watchlist coming across the border. Again, the whole of society impact is almost immeasurable, but it's not immeasurable in terms of where it's hitting the taxpayer.”
Chairman Arrington Shining a Light on the Border Problem:
“I'm sounding the alarm to show Americans the full cost of the border crisis. I have a budget process reform bill that will show taxpayers how much they are paying in terms of the federal budget, how much of the debt the taxpayers are paying, which is about $250,000 per taxpayer right now. And so yes, I think we have to put this at the fore of every taxpayer We have to wake up and do something about it. And the border cost is just one of the many frivolous wasteful and unnecessary spending that's going on throughout the People's Government. And we are going to expose it.”
More From the House Budget Committee on the Border Crisis:
Read about Biden’s Border Blunder HERE.
Read about Biden’s Border Crisis HERE.
Read about Chairman Arrington’s Amicus Brief in support of S.B. 4 in U.S. v. Texas HERE.
Watch Chairman Arrington’s full Fox News interview HERE.
