NBC’s Ainsley: White House Predicts ‘Budget Shortfall of Hundreds of Millions of Dollars’ if Title 42 Is Lifted on May 23

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Jose Diaz-Balart Reports,” NBC News Correspondent Julia Ainsley reported that the White House predicts that if Title 42 is rescinded on May 23, there will be “a budget shortfall of hundreds of millions of dollars” and “some operations from CBP and ICE could be exhausted by as early as July” without additional funding.

Ainsley said, “So, we are learning that the White House is now predicting a budget shortfall of hundreds of millions of dollars if Title 42, as planned, lifts on May 23 and that some operations from CBP and ICE could be exhausted by as early as July if they don’t get more funding. Now, there are other ways they can get funding. They can try to pull from other parts of DHS. They can reallocate. But really, they can’t reprogram more than 10%. So, they may have to go to Congress to get that money.”

After noting that Congressional opponents of lifting Title 42 might oppose more funding until they see a better plan from the Biden administration, Ainsley added, “We know there are certainly conversations within the White House about how this will go down politically. They’re worried about those Democrats. They’re worried about Democrats who have key elections, how they will answer if there is a big surge on the border. This could mean a way that they could shift the question of whether or not to lift Title 42 onto Congress. But right now, as I understand, there are still those preliminary discussions. You’re right, it’s kind of shocking how preliminary they are, about how they get more of this funding.”

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