Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized House Republicans and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for giving up all their leverage to address the southern border, which has become a top voter concern.
“Just in relation to, you know, what’s been going on in the Congress recently, you know, Republicans were sent there, and the No. 1 issue that our voters wanted them to address is the southern border and the massive influx of foreigners by the millions coming into this country and we don’t know who—who these people are,” he said Tuesday in Naples.
“And they basically just surrendered on the border, they now have no leverage to do anything on the border, they had an opportunity to insist that Biden accept the border if he wanted all the foreign aid, and they decided to capitulate, and so he got everything he wants and Republican voters did not get anything with respect to stopping this—this problem at the southern border...it's just pathetic that that's going on."
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis rips House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans for giving up all their leverage and not getting border security passed while giving Biden what he wanted on foreign aid:
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) April 23, 2024
"The #1 issue that our voters wanted them to address is the southern… pic.twitter.com/GjpcWHw5H8
The Republican governor was referring to the House failing to pass a border security bill while giving the green light to a foreign aid package.
The U.S. House Saturday failed to pass a border security bill that Republican leadership intended as an incentive for conservatives to support a foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
The border bill, turned down on a 215-199 vote with five Democrats joining all Republicans in voting in favor, was brought to the floor under a fast-track procedure known as suspension of the rules that requires a two-thirds majority for passage. The conservatives it was meant to appeal to slammed it as a “show vote.”
The border security bill – nearly identical to legislation House Republicans passed last year – was an attempt by House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana to quell growing hard-right dissatisfaction prompted by his support for the $95 billion foreign aid package expected to pass Saturday with the help of Democrats.
The measure is separate and not part of a package of three supplemental funding bills containing aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan as well as another so-called sidecar bill dealing with TikTok. The Senate will be able to clear the foreign aid package and ignore the border security bill that closely resembles another House-passed border bill the Senate has not acted on.
Rather than quell their unrest, Johnson’s move produced only more ire from hard-right members. (New Hampshire Bulletin)
Some say we must keep Mike Johnson to prevent Democrats from running the House. 🤦♂️
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) April 21, 2024
Newsflash: Democrats run him. https://t.co/5DPWoo4cLw
Former President Trump defended Johnson amid criticism, highlighting in a radio interview the GOP's slim majority in the lower chamber.
“Remember, the speakership we’re talking about has, you know, we’re a majority by one. One vote,” Trump said.
“And you can’t really get too tough when — Look, we all want to be tough guys and all, and I have a lot of friends, and frankly I have friends on both sides,” he continued. “You know, if you look at the vote, a lot of Republicans, a lot of good Republicans, voted for it. But Mike is in there and he’s trying, and some people were disappointed, and a lot of people were very disappointed that nothing happened with the border. I’ll straighten out the border.”