GOP Speaker Mike Johnson Rebukes Senators, Pushes Comprehensive HR 2 Border Bill

“We’ve delivered common sense legislation that will secure our border, but it’s been sitting on [Sen.] Chuck Schumer’s desk for seven months,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), told a press conference along the banks of the Rio Grande in Texas.

The press event included more than 60 GOP legislators and was scheduled to tout the House GOP’s fix for President Joe Biden’s easy-migration economic policy.

That House fix — the H.R. 2 bill — is being sidelined by GOP Senators as they negotiate with Democratic Senators over a spending package, which includes $50 billion for Ukraine and roughly $14 billion to accelerate and hide Biden’s migration throughout the 2024 campaign year.

Johnson said:

We are very clear, and we have made that clear for seven months. H.R. 2 is the necessary ingredient. Why? Because it has provisions that fix each of these [Biden migration] problems and these things work together.

For example, you couldn’t just reform the broken asylum process and allow this parole system to remain broken. It would be a giant loophole that would not solve the issue.

You can’t just build the wall without ending catch and release, without restoring Remain in Mexico …

We know what works, it’s not rocket science, and that is why we have said we are resolved to [establish] those provisions. That’s what’s necessary to fix the problem.

Johnson’s comments come shortly after the comprehensive and vetted House bill was dismissed by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). “Asylum reform, limitations on parole, re-invoking Title 42, I think would be enough to get it through the House,” Graham told “Face the Nation’ on December 31.

The Democrats’ leader in the Senate, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) also dismisses the bill: “When the House clings to H.R. 2 as the only solution … we’re not going to get a deal.”

Johnson has to deal with GOP Senators and Democrats — but he also has to manage the business-backed, pro-migration, establishment GOP wing of his caucus. Given his tiny majority in the House, he cannot pass any legislation without an endorsement by the business-backed group.

The well-funded, media-boosted, pro-migration caucus is quietly eager to endorse a band-aid border deal that does not stop Biden’s multi-million inflows of additional low-wage workers, apartment-sharing renters, and government-funded consumers. In 2023, for example, Biden’s policy imported roughly 5 million legal, illegal, and quasi-legal migrants. That huge inflow is vastly profitable for investors — and is greater than the number of newborn Americans in 2023.

The GOP’s establishment members organized the TV-ready press event in TV, which was skipped by some of the GOP’s populist-minded representatives, including Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX).

The establishment-backed event included several legislators who tried to shift the GOP’s focus on Biden’s border policies towards the somewhat related issue of the cartels who tax and direct migrants as they approach the U.S. border.

“We have to target the cartels,” said Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX).

“With this crisis… nobody wins except the cartels,” said Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-TX).

“The root of the issue is the cartels,” said Rep. Tony Gonzales, a pro-migration legislator who organized the event, likely with the aid of pro-migration advocates. “The cartels turn it on and they turn it off … it is long past time for us to label cartels as terrorist organizations,” said Gonzales, who is a friend of Nikki Haley in her run for the GOP 2024 nomination.

Gonzales also suggested the GOP compromise with Biden before the 2024 election, saying:

I believe now is the time to make sure America is safe, and we do that by taking a downpayment on border security in ’24 with this team, and we come back for the rest [when] we win back the White House in ’25.

He also pushed for a compromise deal during a January 2 appearance on CNN:

I think if the Senate can get to 60 in a meaningful way, that would send a powerful message that the House couldn’t just set aside. But I — be very clear, I mean there has to be meaningful border solutions. It can’t be window dressing.

…

I speak with Speaker Johnson literally weekly on this topic. It was the first conversation we had when he was running for speaker. And, you know what, him showing up to the border at the very beginning, the very first trip that he takes is very important. And I think that shows that House Republicans are committed to a border package that makes sense.

“You’ve got to get the do-nothings [legislators] out of the way in order to tackle the problem,” he added.

Gonzales has amassed a large campaign fund to win a 2024 primary fight against Brandon Herrera and Medina County GOP Chair Julie Clark.

But the GOP’s leadership stuck with Johnson’s focus on H.R. 2.

“The solution is our [H.R.2] legislation,” said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who chairs the House judiciary committee. He added:

The solution is simply, I think, one sentence [in 2024 funding legisaltion]: “No money can be used to process or release in the country any new migrants.”  … We should put that one sentence in must-pass legislation …

I think in the end, it boils down to the will of Republicans in the United States Congress. We’re going to force that sentence, that solution on a piece of legislation to get this done. That should be our charge — if we don’t, then we’re going to have to wait. We’re going to have to wait for the presidential election and hope that President Trump is the next president.

Worse, the inflow of eager, hard-working migrants reduces the incentive and ability of politicians, government officials, and business leaders to look past their expanding political differences and help ordinary Americans who do not hold Ivy League degrees.