President Joe Biden chastised congressional Republicans on Tuesday for threatening to block his joint-border security and Ukraine aid legislation, daring them to “show some spine” and not listen to former President Donald Trump.
The president delivered remarks in the White House State Dining Room following reports that Republicans are now trying to block the legislation from reaching the Senate floor for a vote, let alone the House. Biden claimed that there is one reason for the delay: former President Donald Trump.
“Donald Trump thinks it’s bad for him politically. … Even though it helps the country, he’s not for it,” the president said. “He’d rather weaponize this issue rather than solve it. For the last 24 hours, he’s done nothing, I’m told, but reach out to Republicans in the House and Senate and threaten them and try to intimidate them to vote against this proposal, and it looks like they’re caving.
“Frankly, they owe it to the American people to show some spine and do what they know to be right,” he concluded.
The president is facing pressure on the Left for trying to work with Republicans to reform immigration policy as well, and he said Tuesday that more still needs to be done to improve the “broken” immigration system, including a pathway to citizenship for those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Biden and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) have exchanged escalating shots on the topic in recent days. The speaker released a joint statement Monday with other GOP leaders calling the Senate-negotiated package “dead on arrival” in the House before introducing an Israel-only aid package, which Biden, in turn, vowed to veto.
The White House additionally accused Johnson and Republicans of playing political games and bending to Trump’s election whims.
“Suddenly, Speaker Johnson is tying himself in knots manufacturing excuses to oppose all of those benefits,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates wrote of provisions in the Senate bill. “This is a moment of truth for House Republicans. After opposing the record border security funding Joe Biden has signed into law every year of his presidency, will the House GOP finally say ‘yes. to securing our border and putting the needs of families above partisan games?”
Trump himself has accused Biden of setting a trap for Republicans with the border security bill.
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“The ridiculous ‘Border’ Bill is nothing more than a highly sophisticated trap for Republicans to assume the blame on what the Radical Left Democrats have done to our Border, just in time for our most important EVER Election,” the former president wrote Monday on Truth Social. “Don’t fall for it!!!”
Biden’s remarks can be seen in full below.
