WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden slammed former President Donald Trump on Tuesday, blaming him for the collapse of a $118 million bipartisan border package.
Speaking from the White House, Biden called the bill “the most fair, humane reforms in our immigration system in a long time and the toughest set of reforms to secure the border ever.”
“Now, all indications are this bill won’t even move forward to the Senate floor,” Biden said. “Why? A simple reason: Donald Trump.”
“Because Donald Trump thinks it’s bad for him politically, even though it helps the country,” he continued. “He’d rather weaponize the issue than actually solve it. Frankly, they owe it to the American people to show some spine and do what they know to be right.”
Biden slammed Republicans and vowed to bring up the issue on the campaign trail.
“Every day between now and November, the American people are gonna know that the only reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican friends,” he said.
“If the bill fails, I want to be absolutely clear about something. The American people are going to know why it failed. I’ll be taking this issue to the country and the voters are going to know,” Biden added.
The $118 billion package includes a series of provisions for asylum screening and to process claims faster, ends the practice known as “catch and release,” and provides a new authority to close the border when crossings reach a certain threshold.
The agreement was made by Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz). If passed, the bill would be the most aggressive border security and migration bill in decades.
“If we don’t stop Putin’s appetite for power control in Ukraine, he won’t limit himself to just Ukraine and the costs for America and our allies and partners will rise,” Biden said. “For those Republicans in Congress who think they can oppose funding for Ukraine, history is watching.”
