Members of the Trump administration are apparently pressuring congressional Republicans to fast-track $175 billion in new border money, according to Axios.
Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, and Office of Management and Budget Chief Russell Vought told GOP senators during a closed-door meeting Tuesday that the administration is strapped for cash for President Donald Trump’s mass deportations and other inhumane immigration wants.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, told reporters that Homan and Vought made clear that “we’re living on borrowed time.”
After the meeting, Homan said that his message to senators was “more money, more success,” and he expressed optimism that the administration would find the money needed to continue its immigration operations.
President Donald Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan.
“Hopefully, we won’t run out of money,” he said. “The more money we got, the more bad guys we take off the street, the safer America is.”
But it’s not just Homan and Vought who want lawmakers to shore up money for Trump’s immigration crackdown. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sent a separate letter to lawmakers requesting money for more border resources.
According to Fox News, which also obtained a copy of the letter, the money officials are soliciting will go toward more law enforcement and military personnel, aircrafts and additional means of transportation to facilitate deportations, and materials and workers to finish constructing a “permanent barrier” at the border, among other things.
At issue is whether the GOP-dominated chambers of Congress can get on the same page for their approach. Graham, the Senate Budget Committee chair, plans to mark up his own budget resolution on Wednesday, which includes more than $340 million in new funding for border security and the Pentagon, according to Punchbowl News. This amount, he said, provides enough funding for the next four years.
Over in the House, however, Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, pleaded with Graham to hold off. Johnson is apparently hopeful that House Republicans can pass “one big, beautiful [reconciliation] bill,” as Trump has advocated for, which would include various tenets of his agenda and an extension of tax cuts from his first term.
But this is at odds with what GOP senators are angling for. Graham’s strategy, in particular, calls for two bills.
Meanwhile, Senate Republican Leader John Thune of South Dakota has argued for a border and energy policy bill, while punting a second tax bill to later in the year.
Even as Senate Republicans move forward with Graham’s bill, Johnson has said that he will not bring it to the House floor.
“I’m afraid it’s a non-starter over here. I’ve expressed that to [Graham], there is no animus or daylight between us. We all are trying to get to the same achievable objectives,” Johnson told a CNN reporter Tuesday.
It’s interesting that Republicans can’t seem to find the money needed to fulfill their hardline border and immigration agenda, considering that the federal government, under Trump’s direction, just capped funding for the National Institutes of Health’s research facilities. And if they can’t find the funding there, maybe enough federal workers will take Trump’s so-called buyout offer, vacating their positions with various government agencies.
Either way, it’s foolish that the Trump administration is claiming to be low on cash when it has spent the better part of the past month axing federal agencies all in the name of making the government more “efficient.”
When it comes to how and whether Republican lawmakers will acquiesce to Trump’s latest request, it seems that things are playing out in favor of Graham and the Senate. According to Axios, White House officials told GOP senators that the money earmarked in Graham’s bill would be enough to deliver on Trump’s border promises for the next four years.
Now we just need to see whether Johnson will give up on his want for one big bill—and he might. Especially if Trump becomes so desperate for border money that he reneges on his previous ask.
Campaign Action
