Biden vows to shut down border when it ‘becomes overwhelmed’ if Congress passes bill
by Tara Suter - 01/27/24 7:52 AM ET
President Biden promised to shut down the border “when it becomes overwhelmed” if Congress passes a bipartisan border security bill.
“Let’s be clear,” Biden said in a statement Friday. “What’s been negotiated would — if passed into law — be the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country. It would give me, as President, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed. And if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) said if reports about the terms of the deal are accurate, legislation on border security and Ukraine aid would have been “dead on arrival” in the House, in a letter to colleagues Friday.
“I wanted to provide a brief update regarding the supplemental and the border, since the Senate appears unable to reach any agreement. If rumors about the contents of the draft proposal are true, it would have been dead on arrival in the House anyway,” Johnson said.
The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed that in December, there were 302,034 encounters at the southern border, setting a record high.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4433114-biden-vows-shut-down-border-when-overwhelmed-should-congress-pass-bill/
