Britt draws ‘red line’ on Biden’s border proposal: ‘He knows walls work’

President Biden’s request for $24 billion in additional funding to Ukraine and $12 billion in FEMA disaster relief funding would traffic weaker immigration policies into existence, U.S. Sen. Katie Britt said.

Biden’s $40 billion request to Congress includes $4 billion in funding for “humanitarian” and migration management needs – with more than $600 million of that to fund shelter and other services for migrants released from DHS custody.

The proposal also includes authorizing language that would allow the administration to take existing funds meant for ICE to enforce immigration laws and instead spend that money on additional aid for migrants.

Britt (R-Montgomery) isn’t having any of it.

“When you look at this money, when you drill down into what he is proposing, he is proposing more money for NGOs, more money to make it enticing for migrants to come here illegally,” she said.

Britt called the ruse a “red line” for her and said she would vote against the supplemental spending measure in an interview Tuesday with Phil Williams on “Rightside Radio.”

“I’m disgusted by the $4 billion for border ‘security.’ That is a farce.” Britt said. “I do not believe that we need to give President Biden more money to ‘manage the border;’ we need to give him money to secure it.”

The Department of Homeland Security is “scrambling to fill billions of dollars in shortfalls across its various agencies,” Axios recently reported – with “the vast majority driven by its efforts to maintain order at the U.S.-Mexico border.”

“We have a crisis on our hands,” Britt said. “I know you’ve seen the numbers. We’ve hit all-time highs. The numbers for August on average — now we’re 7,300 (encounters) a day.”

As of yesterday, the average daily encounters this month was the highest of 2023 — with numbers still rising.

President Biden’s attempts to manage this crisis have failed. It’s past time to enforce existing laws and secure the border.https://t.co/gDh19DUIxq

— Senator Katie Boyd Britt (@SenKatieBritt) August 22, 2023

Britt pointed out Biden’s hesitance to bolster physical border security is ironic, given his support for the 2006 Secure Fence Act.

“Joe Biden knows walls work,” Britt said. “He knows we need them, and it is disgusting to see him play to the liberal left.”

Britt reminded the radio audience that she had voted against the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Homeland Security funding bill for Fiscal Year 2024 because it does not do enough to secure the border and end the border crisis.

“The border, this is a red line,” she said. “And we have to stand up, as I stood up earlier and will continue to be a voice, to say this is the direction that we need to go in, this is the direction the American people want us to go in — and it’s also the direction that they deserve (for us) to go in.”

Britt also blasted Biden for tying in the supplemental border proposal with needed disaster relief funding, as well as the Ukraine piece of the package.

“Biden is trying to intertwine these things together. And we have to say enough is enough,” she said.

Britt continued her longstanding position that it’s in the United States’ own interest to defeat Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, while reaffirming that every dime that American spends on the effort must be strategic and accounted for.

“I believe that we have to support Ukraine,” Britt stressed. “However, it has to be done in a meaningful and a judicious way. We have to make sure there is a proper oversight over any money that is spent in Ukraine.”

Britt previously voted to create a new inspector general who would oversee American funding of Ukraine’s war efforts. She also voted in favor of an amendment that would have mandated NATO countryies pay their fair share toward winning the conflict.

In Tuesday’s interview, she also underscored that continued American support of Ukraine ensures that the U.S. does not break its word on the global stage again – something that the Biden Administration failed to accomplish in its disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“I am a big believer that you have to keep your word,” Britt said.

She pointed to the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, in which the U.S., the United Kingdom, and Russia guaranteed Ukrainian territorial sovereignty and protection in exchange for Ukraine giving up its stockpile of nuclear weapons.

She proceeded by outlining that any U.S. aid to Ukraine’s efforts must be done in the correct manner.

“Now, I think you have to do it though in a way that protects our nation and protects our men and women in uniform,” Britt said. “We do not want any boots on the ground there.

“We have to remember that an emboldened Russia is an emboldened China is an emboldened Iran. And in this environment, we’re trying to make it very clear that they are out for blood when it comes to the United States of America. We have to make sure that we are being vigilant and we do not allow Russia to win.”

Grayson Everett is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @Grayson270