Scalise: Republicans Have A Bill to Strengthen America's Southern Border

Press Release

Today, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) appeared on Fox News' The Story with Martha MacCallum to hammer the Biden administration for its reckless open-border policies that are driving illegal immigration, human rights abuses, and deaths caused by fentanyl overdoses. Leader Scalise also highlighted legislation coming to the House Floor next week, which he and Republican Committee Chairmen announced last week, to curb the harmful policies of the Biden Administration and secure America's southern border.

Click here or on the image above to view the full interview.

On the southern border:

"We have seen complete incompetence from Secretary Mayorkas. From President Biden on down -- and it started with Joe Biden on Day One when he became president -- undoing the things that were working under President Trump to secure our border. And he sent a message -- President Biden did -- that very first day that America's border is open. They know it's open. [Secretary] Mayorkas, [President] Biden, even [Vice President] Harris, his border czar, keep saying, "The border's not open.'

"Everybody in America sees this. They're disgusted by it. These deaths that you just reported on -- they're heartbreaking -- but they're completely unnecessary. It should have never happened if President Biden and [Secretary] Mayorkas were doing their jobs securing the border."

On why Republicans reject the Biden Administration's open-border policies:

"Well, first of all, President Biden opened the border on Day One, but Republicans were not in charge his first two years. [Congresswoman] Pelosi ran the House. [Senator] Schumer is still running the Senate. They never brought a single bill to Congress, Martha. And I think anybody should ask the President or Mayorkas, "What was your bill that [Congresswoman] Pelosi shot down for two years when they were running the Congress?' because they never had a bill. Their approach was: open up the border and send everybody into this country illegally -- millions heeded that call.

"We've got a bill and we are actually bringing legislation next week to the House Floor. I hope the President supports this package. Unfortunately, he's demagoguing it and opposing it because President Biden wants an open border and all the negatives that come with it. These deaths that we're seeing -- just think about the fentanyl, and you all have reported on this. Very few other networks have. Every single day in America since President Biden has opened our border, we're seeing 300 young people die every day because of drugs like fentanyl coming across our open border. So we've got a bill that will fix this."

On whether Democrats support Republicans' border legislation:

"If they've got a better idea, show us your plan. But as I mentioned earlier, they've never tried to bring a bill forward -- and they had the House and Senate and White House for two years -- and never tried to address the problem because they created it. We end catch-and-release. That's one of the big magnets into America. We fix the asylum program that's not working anymore.

"We give tools to our border patrol agents. I will tell you, one of the things that Secretary Mayorkas has done -- that's the most disappointing -- is that he has turned the Border Patrol agents against him. They know that he doesn't have -- Mayorkas does not have the Border Patrol agents' back[s]. They're out there risking their lives on the frontline. We're seeing one out of every 1,000 Border Patrol agents committing suicide. Those numbers are alarming, by the way. We are giving our Border Patrol agents -- in this bill -- the tools they need to do their job safely."

On Republican support for the legislation:

"Well, you saw everybody coming together and saying, "We are willing to vote to address the debt ceiling while also addressing the spending problem in Washington that got us here.' Now the pressure is on President Biden to come out of hiding and actually do his job [and] to sit down with the Speaker. You're seeing a drumbeat, by the way, Martha, of Democrats in the House and Senate finally starting to call on President Biden to go negotiate with Speaker McCarthy. A few of them are still -- like Chuck Schumer -- still want to demagogue this and try to create a debt crisis. We passed a bill to solve the problem.

"Well, I'd like to see the Senate take this bill up and pass it to the President. It will solve the problem, not just with the debt ceiling, it'll solve the spending problem and the inflation problem that got us here. So let them pass that bill."

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