Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) on Sunday night denounced the bipartisan border agreement announced by Senate negotiators as “garbage.”
“I'm really shocked that there are people considering a garbage package like this. And as you mentioned, Biden is going to put even more pressure on the Senate and House of Representatives on this border deal. We’re really going to go to the American people who are trying to sell counterfeit products,” Cammack said Monday on Fox News.
“It looks like they were trying to sell us Gucci, but it's actually a package that the guy around the corner in the alley took out of his trunk,” she continued.
The proposed agreement includes measures to raise standards for asylum screening and speed up the processing of applications, close loopholes that allow for parole and “catch-and-release,” and prevent border crossings from occurring after a certain number of border crossings. The measures include giving new powers to shut down businesses.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and House Republican leaders have already announced their opposition to the bill, calling it “dead on arrival” in the House. Hard-line conservatives and supporters of former President Trump were also quick to criticize the bill on Sunday, and a tough battle is expected in Congress.
Cammack insisted in an interview with Fox News' Harris Faulkner that the deal is “not a border security package.” He said the border issue must be a “priority” for him to consider supporting the bill.
“This package does not secure the border. We would be wise not to lie to the American people and try to sell it. They are already angry. We need them to understand that this is not a border security package because we know it's not,” Cammack said.
In addition to the bipartisan border agreement, the $118 billion national security supplement also includes $60 billion for Ukraine, $14.1 billion for Israel, and aid to Indo-Pacific allies.
President Biden praised the bipartisan agreement in a statement Sunday and called on Congress to approve the bill so he can sign it.
“Now, we have reached agreement on a bipartisan national security agreement that includes the toughest and fairest border reform in decades, and I strongly support it,” Biden said in a statement.
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