Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) plans to introduce a bill Thursday aimed at halting Vice President Kamala Harris from using taxpayer money for travel until she visits the southern border and creates a plan to deal with the crisis there.
The See the Crisis Act, which Fox News first obtained, will “limit the travel” of Harris “until certain activities are undertaken with respect to the southwest border, and for other purposes.” This would limit the federal funds that “may be obligated or expected for travel expenses” for her to travel outside the United States.
The bill also includes Harris meeting with agencies at the border and creating a plan to deal with the crisis as well as focusing on the amount of foreign aid to be given to Northern Triangle countries to respond to the crisis, according to Fox News.
In an interview with the outlet Wednesday, Hinson said, “We have an absolute crisis at the border, and Vice President Harris was appointed to lead the administration’s efforts on the border crisis, but it’s been 56 days, and in that time, she hasn’t been to the border once.” Hinson added, “She hasn’t held a news conference on the administration’s efforts for a plan, and I think it’s time she does that.”
Harris has been actively avoiding visiting the southern border since President Joe Biden appointed her as the border point person. Harris has not made a single trip. She is supposed to lead talks with Mexico and Northern Triangle countries to address the trend of illegal border crossings.
Breitbart News reported when the vice president was asked in April if she would inspect the border crisis, she said it was Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s job. “We must address the symptoms, and that is what is happening with the team of folks who are working on the border, led by Ali Mayorkas. But we also have to deal with the root causes. Otherwise, we are just in a perpetual system of only dealing with the symptoms,” Harris said.
Hinson continued to tell Fox that Harris is “putting yarn shops and bakeries before the border,” continuing, “She’s Zoomed with the Mexican president, but I think that sends the absolute wrong message to the men and women that are putting their lives on the line every day.”
She later added, “Not to mention the men and women and families that live in these communities along the border and the communities of Iowa — every state is a border state.”
During a visit to the southern border in April, Hinson also called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to visit the border, saying Congress has been “kicking the can for far too long.” Hinson said that as an Iowa mom, everything that’s happening at the border is concerning to her. “This is a safety and security issue for our families, not only here on the border but across this country.”
During her visit, she had claimed that cartel members are bringing the drugs straight to Iowa from the southern border using Interstate 35, which goes straight through Iowa. She said this problem is “putting our communities at risk.”
“I’m very passionate about this issue. I’m ready to get to work on fixing these problems,” she stated. Hinson serves on the House Appropriations Committee and the Homeland Security subcommittee in the House.
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