Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the incoming chair of the House Oversight Committee, told Fox News on Tuesday that Republicans “would love to cut off all funding for everything” before discussing the best way to secure the U.S.-Mexico border.
On Monday, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a temporary hold on the end of the Trump-era immigration policy Title 42, which was scheduled to expire on Dec. 21. Title 42 is ostensibly a public health order to stop the spread of COVID-19, but it has been utilized since 2020 to expel millions of migrants who’ve crossed the southern border. A federal judge ruled last month that the government needed to end the “arbitrary and capricious” policy.
With border crossings expected to surge once the policy is lifted, Republicans have continued to hammer President Joe Biden over what they describe as his administration’s “open border policy.” During a Tuesday morning appearance on Fox & Friends First, Comer doubled down on that characterization while peddling the racist Great Replacement theory.
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“Over the past two years, this has turned the border patrol into the welcoming committee. They want more people to roll into the United States,” he declared. “They believe this is part of their social equality campaign to fundamentally change America.”
Comer continued: “They don’t care about what this is costing the American taxpayers. They don’t care about what this is doing to the crime rate. All the fentanyl, all the human trafficking pouring into the country, they don’t care. They want to continue to pander to the left-wing to make it appear they are welcoming and they’re making this country open to anyone in the world who wants to go there.”
After the Kentucky lawmaker applauded Republican state attorneys general for filing the emergency appeal to keep Title 42 in place, Fox News co-host Todd Piro claimed that this “exposes the hypocrisy” of the White House.
“On the one hand, we believe in the border and we want more funding for border security but it is also going to be forced to oppose Title 42 in court for the whole world to see by 5:00 p.m. today,” Piro added, asking Comer for his take.
“That’s a great point. You know, everything is about more money for the Biden administration,” Comer replied. “When they say the Republicans haven’t funded this—we would love to cut off all funding for everything and have a discussion about how to secure this border.”
He then went on to complain about how much has already been spent as it relates to the border and immigration. Congress, meanwhile, is finalizing a $1.7 trillion omnibus bill to avert a government shutdown—a spending package Comer opposes.
“There was no telling how much they have cost American taxpayers on transportation costs, housing costs, Medicaid costs, food and clothing costs, public education costs, security costs,” he grumbled. “It goes on and on and on. We can’t get anywhere near a full accounting of what this has already cost.”
The lawmaker added: “And then they have the nerve to stand up and say the Republicans need to give them more money so they can do their job to secure the border? They don’t want to secure the border. They want an open border. But they’ll do everything they can to try to extract more money from the taxpayers of America!”
Comer, who is planning investigations into the president’s son Hunter Biden and his business dealings, has also repeatedly called for the FBI and Justice Department to be “defunded” and “dismantled” in the wake of the so-called “Twitter Files.” He’s also vowed revenge over Twitter’s alleged “election suppression,” promising to go after former employees of the social media platform.
