Freedom Caucus urges GOP to reject government funding deal without border reforms

The hard-line conservative House Freedom Caucus and its allies called on lawmakers to reject future government funding measures being developed by Congressional leaders, saying a vote on the bill would be part of the Biden administration’s “Open Borders Initiative.” ” warns that it will be a vote on policy.

The letter, led by Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good (R-Va.) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), was signed by 41 Republican lawmakers days before Friday’s shutdown deadline. .

“At some point, border security has to be more than just an aspirational message.” The letter said:. “Is there a point at which we refuse to allow this to happen on our watch, or are there no standards that are so harmful to our country that we refuse to fund a government that carries out an invasion?”

“The next government spending package will fund multiple tools Biden will use to release millions of people into America,” they said. “From DHS abuses of law to ‘release’ people through parole and asylum to the United Nations and NGOs facilitating human trafficking, the House can exercise its constitutional duty to check abuses.”

The caucus called on the Republican-led House to instead propose a spending measure that would “force the inclusion of core elements” of the flagship border bill, known as HR2.

“Of course, the fact that the funding package includes defense spending means that many people justify voting ‘on the military’. Borders aside, the power of the purse is also at stake in the Pentagon’s radical politics. should be used to prevent this from happening,” they wrote.

The letter represents a bipartisan agreement that provides funding to government departments including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and State departments, as well as the Internal Revenue Service, general government, and foreign governments. It was submitted as. Disagreement over the DHS bill has postponed the shutdown for later this week.

Leaders initially announced the text of the package on Sunday, suggesting they were planning a year-round stopgap measure for DHS. But that timeline slipped through deep partisan divisions over borders and immigration. Lawmakers say they are close to finalizing the remaining five bills.

Pressed about the negotiations Monday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said DHS needs a bill that provides sufficient funding for its “operational pace.”

But amid ongoing spending negotiations, there is much uncertainty about what DHS’ expected full-year funding plan will be, especially since the White House is involved in the discussions.

“That’s what the government is fighting for, and we want to make sure we have the operating funds to do the job we need to do,” she said, adding that DHS is “doing the job to do the best we can.” I did,” he added. The level of funding they are currently operating at. ”

“And we want to do everything we can to make sure they can achieve that pace of operation,” she said, adding, “We want to make sure that we have DHS to deal with security operations and other activities.” Clearly, the border response is broader than all the work that DHS must do. ”

Also, a person familiar with the matter said Sunday that part of the controversy is that Democrats are demanding more funding for pay equity for the Transportation Security Administration, while Republicans are demanding more funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It said it was seeking more funding for detention and enforcement operations.