Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn of Texas are pushing a bill that would make the federal government reimburse Texas for its border security costs during Joe Biden’s presidency.
Though Cruz and Cornyn both have splashy press releases about it, and though Rep. Chip Roy of Texas is sponsoring the companion bill in the House, neither the House nor Senate version has any text. But, of course, there is a breathless Fox News piece about it.
If we take the press push at its face, the bill would reimburse Texas for border spending from Jan. 20, 2021, onward, and any funds left over at the end of the Trump administration would go toward paying down the national debt. Since we can’t actually read the bill, it isn’t clear whether Texas continues to get reimbursed even now or if it only covers these costs from when Texas was suffering under Biden’s reign of terror.
Even without being able to read the full bill, it’s clear that it serves two purposes, neither of which has anything to do with border security.
Children play along the border wall separating Mexico and the United States.
First, it allows Republicans to keep up the drumbeat that the Biden years were such a catastrophic failure that somehow states still bear the ill effects. And second, it allows Texas to get in on the cash grab. It’s pretty clear that the Trump administration has no ceiling on how much money it will spend on its violent immigration crackdown.
This is especially rich coming from Texas, the state that spent the Biden era arguing to courts that, despite immigration being wholly a federal concern, the state had the authority to erect wire buoy barriers. And the state spent very handsomely on those barriers, throwing a cool $1 million at “experts” during litigation. Are federal taxpayers now on the hook for that as well?
While $1 million may be nothing but spare change to the Trump administration these days, it underpins the biggest issue with this bill: How does the federal government decide whether the money spent by Texas was appropriate? Or is it just that any dime spent on the border by Texas from 2021 through 2025 is refundable no matter what?
During President Donald Trump’s first term, Texas spent in the high 9 figures every year, so does it get reimbursed based on that spending?
You’d think that none of this would be necessary, given how Mexico was going to pay for the wall. But even Texas Gov. Greg Abbott knew that was a lie, which is why he is spending billions of state money to build a wall instead. Or maybe he was going to crowdfund it?
Cruz and Cronyn are craven, but they’re not stupid. It’s an excellent time to try to tap the federal coffers by demanding money to make life even more miserable for immigrants. So why shouldn’t Texas get some?
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