Speaker Johnson leads House GOP on a trip to a Texas border city as Ukraine aid hangs in the balance
LA TimesMigrants wait to be processed by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol in Eagle Pass, Texas, in October. House Speaker Mike Johnson led about 60 fellow Republicans in Congress on a visit Wednesday to the Mexican border to underscore their demand for hard-line immigration policies in exchange for backing President Biden’s emergency wartime funding request for Ukraine. “So we are focused on the solutions, and we hope that they will return to Washington and focus on the solutions as well.” House Republicans contend that Mayorkas’ management of the border has amounted to a dereliction of his duties and they are moving ahead with rare impeachment proceedings against a Cabinet member, with a first committee hearing on the matter scheduled next week. He added: “Everyone’s going to have to give something to get this done.” Republicans are pressuring Biden and Democrats to accept strict border measures, and they see the high number of migrants arriving at the border as a political weakness for the president. “The consequence of Republicans’ decision to tie Ukraine funding to border is that the Ukrainians are already at a moment of real crisis,” Murphy said.