Scalise: Biden Administration's Open Border Policies Are Devastating Communities

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) appeared on Fox Business Network's Kudlow to talk about House Republicans' Secure the Border Act, which provides commonsense reforms to end the chaos caused by the Biden Administration's open border policies. Leader Scalise also hammered the Biden Administration for the humanitarian crisis and the flow of fentanyl triggered by its open border policies. Leader Scalise also discussed the growing chorus of House and Senate Democrats calling for President Biden to engage in debt ceiling negotiations and the need to curb wasteful federal spending.

Click here or on the image above to view the full interview.

On the Biden Administration's harmful open border policies:

"Well, Larry, I agree with everything you just said and it's worse than people realize. You know, the mainstream media won't cover this. I'm glad you are, and you have been for a long time but look, it's inundating the border towns all across the United States' southern border. I hear from my colleagues all the time talking about how it's devastating communities: the farmers there that have land being inundated, the deaths, the human trafficking.

"We all see the drug overdoses. We're losing 300 young kids every single day Larry, to the fentanyl - and other drugs - that are being brought across by the cartels because [President] Biden not only opened up the border, but President Biden has given operational control of our southern border to the Mexican drug cartels and they're making billions of dollars a month. Not only human trafficking, slave trading, but also bringing drugs like fentanyl - killing our young people - into this country every single day.

"And President Biden doesn't care about it. He deliberately did this. Our bill, H.R. 2 - which is the Secure the Border Act - is going to be voted on this Thursday and shows the country how we can actually fix this problem, and every Member of Congress is going to have to go on record, Larry. Everybody watching should call their Member of Congress and ask them to vote for the bill for H.R. 2 to secure this border along the southern part of the United States. And if you're against this, then you want an open border too.So every member of Congress is going to have to go on record, and I think all of America is going to be watching this vote Larry."

On the humanitarian crisis at the southern border:

"It's well-documented how many of these young women that are being trafficked across the southern border are being raped along the way. Does [President] Biden not care about those young girls? Everybody knows it's going on. It's well-documented.

"President Biden created that problem, too. And he just acts like if he looks the other way - and just says denouncing things about Republicans - that the American people won't watch, but they're watching and, as you said, it's why his poll numbers are so dismally low. 36 percent of Americans approve of the job he's doing and I think that number is probably lower today, but also amongst Democrats, he's underwater amongst Democrats who don't even want him to be their nominee next year, because they see how failed his agenda is. Not just on the border [but] on energy, on the economy, on dealing with the debt ceiling. He's creating a debt crisis right now by hiding out and not looking at what the Republicans passed. This bill that we passed will actually not only address the debt ceiling, but it addresses Washington's spending problem that got us here [and] that is driving inflation.

"And as growth - by the way - things like the Lower Energy Costs Act are in that package too, because we can grow the economy to get our way out of this mess. Biden is hiding from all of these crises. As [Senator] McConnell said, 'M.I.A. on this.'"

On the debt ceiling negotiations:

"Look Larry, I'm an eternal optimist. Speaker McCarthy has been working hard going back to February, as you mentioned, having his first meeting with the President and then the President what went into hiding for over two months - almost three months - trying to avoid this to run out the clock. We passed a bill to deal with this crisis. [Senator] Schumer hasn't passed a bill Larry, you know, when you hear [Senator] Schumer trashing this bill that we passed in the House, ask him what bill he's passed - because he can't get the votes to pass anything.

"So President Biden's either going to get serious about this or create a debt crisis, but that's on President Biden. We passed a bill to address this problem. It's time for the President to get in the game and actually start negotiating today. Don't wait another month when this really becomes a catastrophe for the American economy - worse than what we are already seeing."

On whether the White House is negotiating behind the scenes on the debt ceiling:

"You're starting to see a number of Democrats - in both the House and Senate - pushing back and telling the White House, 'You've got to start negotiating with Speaker McCarthy. You can't just hide out,'because President Biden might be up for reelection next year [and] he might not care about his prospects, but they care about their own [elections]. Both House and Senate Democrats that are starting to publicly criticize President Biden for hiding out. They know he's got to start negotiating.

"They don't want to see President Biden create a debt crisis but, ultimately, this is on President Biden. You know, you go back to his votes as a senator, when he voted against raising the debt ceiling himself, and he said it was because it didn't have enough spending reforms. We put a lot of really important spending reforms in this package. If he's got more he wants to put on the table, today is the day to put those on the table, stop running out the clock, [and] stop trying to create a debt crisis."

On whether President Biden will negotiate to cut wasteful spending:

"This is the place to solve the problem. And by the way, if we did a clean debt ceiling - which we're not going to do - you go back to 2011, which is the last time America's credit rating was downgraded. The reason that we got downgraded is because there were no spending reforms tied to a debt ceiling increase. That would happen again this time because things are actually worse. The debt's worse. The spending problems in Washington are worse. We passed a bill to solve both problems. It's time for the President to wake up and start doing his job and get into these negotiations."