House Budget Committee Republican Leader Smith Announces Visit to U.S. Southern Border
WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith (MO-08) will be leading a group of U.S. House of Representatives Republican members to McAllen, Texas, on Wednesday, June 1, to see firsthand the magnitude of President Biden’s border crisis, including the direct budgetary cost to American taxpayers of the failure to secure the southern border.“We look forward to speaking with our brave Border Patrol agents on the front lines of this crisis,” said House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith (MO-08). “President Biden’s open border policies have not only made America less safe, but they have emboldened the cartels who are profiting from this chaos. Roughly $96 billion has been traced going back to the cartels from illegal activity on the border including human trafficking, drug smuggling, and money laundering. Enough fentanyl has poured into our country to kill every American man, woman, and child many times over. Over 2.4 million border encounters with illegal immigrants have occurred since President Biden came into office and possibly millions more should the Biden Administration succeed in ending the Title 42 border policy.
“The President’s continued – and illegal – freeze of border wall construction funds, beginning on his first day in office, shows this Administration has no intention of slowing or stopping this crisis. Because of this costly executive action, the Department of Defense is paying contractors $6 million per day to babysit $350 million of border wall materials while America’s borders are less secure. Taxpayers are now simultaneously picking up the tab for border flights and hotel rooms for illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, Customs and Border operational funds are being diverted to provide the very childcare items to illegal immigrants which can’t be found on the shelves of stores across America.”
The Republican delegation includes:
- House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith (MO-08)
- Rep. Tom McClintock (CA-04)
- Rep. Glenn Grothman (WI-06)
- Rep. Lloyd Smucker (PA-11)
- Rep. Chris Jacobs (NY-27)
- Rep. Michael Burgess (TX-26)
- Rep. Buddy Carter (GA-01)
- Rep. Ben Cline (VA-06)
- Rep. Bob Good (VA-05)
- Rep. Ashley Hinson (IA-01)
- Rep. Jay Obernolte (CA-08)
- Rep. Mike Carey (OH-15)
- Rep. John Joyce (PA-13)
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