{"id":1906876,"date":"2023-03-29T21:40:45","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T01:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-republicans-say-homeland-security-chiefs-60-billion-budget-concedes-border-cannot-be-secured\/"},"modified":"2023-03-29T21:51:47","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T01:51:47","slug":"house-republicans-say-homeland-security-chiefs-60-billion-budget-concedes-border-cannot-be-secured","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-republicans-say-homeland-security-chiefs-60-billion-budget-concedes-border-cannot-be-secured\/","title":{"rendered":"House Republicans Say Homeland Security Chief\u2019s $60 Billion Budget Concedes Border Cannot Be Secured"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhouse-republicans-say-homeland-security-chiefs-60-billion-budget-concedes-border-cannot-be-secured%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1906876&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"post_content\">\n<div class=\"aplayer_app\" data-source=\"https:\/\/vs1.youmaker.com\/assets\/2023\/0330\/58912c3d-0f30-43c3-aeca-dbac7fa7d0b0\/audio.mp3?length=7264269&#038;duration=605\"><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>Any federal department head with a $60.4 billion annual spending request is going to see fiscal hawks on Congressional panels flash their budget-cutting knives in appropriations hearings.<\/p>\n<p>But when it comes to embattled United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas\u2014literally, the face of President Joe Biden\u2019s much-maligned border and immigration policies\u2014House Republicans don\u2019t want to trim his budget, they want his head on a platter.<\/p>\n<p>According to DHS, there have been 4.7 million \u201cencounters\u201d with illegal immigrants reported at the nation\u2019s southern border since the Biden administration assumed office in January 2021.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5157071\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript> Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas testifies before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in Washington on March 28, 2023. (Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>An estimated 1.3 million \u201cgot-aways\u201d have eluded border agents and escaped into the country\u2014a figure many say is underestimated by up to 20 percent.<\/p>\n<p>As a result critics, which include the entire Republican Congressional contingent as well as some Democrats, say there were more than 1,100 attacks on U.S. Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents while the flow of fentanyl remains unabated across the southern border, contributing to more than 75,000 poisoning deaths attributed to the drug in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. Secretary, you are failing at doing your job. These numbers speak for themselves,\u201d Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Minn.) said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe policies of this administration have directly contributed to this failure. In my mind, it is very clear this has been a complete failure in you doing your job and we need new leadership.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat will it take for you to resign and step down from this \u2026 because I see this as a complete failure. What will it take?\u201d Hinson asked.<\/p>\n<p>Mayorkas didn\u2019t directly respond to Hinson\u2019s query during his two-and-a-half-hour March 29 hearing before the House Appropriation Committee\u2019s Homeland Security Subcommittee.<\/p>\n<p>Nor did the DHS chief answer pointed questions about allegedly shifting funding away from already allocated money for border wall construction, or respond to queries about whether Mexican cartels should be declared foreign terrorist organizations or his claim in\u00a0April 2022\u00a0that DHS had \u201coperational control\u201d of the border. That statement\u00a0was later refuted by U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz.<\/p>\n<p>It was Mayorkas\u2019s second Congressional hearing of the week and the first of two set for March 29.<\/p>\n<p>The day before, he was ripped by Senate Appropriations Committee Republicans with Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz calling for him to \u201cbe fired\u201d or, as a bill now circulating about Capitol Hill demands, be impeached.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor over two years, we\u2019ve seen skyrocketing illegal migration at the border. This policy-driven crisis continues for one reason, and one reason only, this administration is unwilling to publicly dissuade migrants from coming to the border and unwilling to take action on the authority it already has on the books,\u201d Subcommittee Chair Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio) said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Biden administration\u2019s policies are undoubtedly driving our border security crisis,\u201d he continued and referring to the DHS\u2019s $60.4 billion Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) budget request added, \u201cIt is our job as appropriators to be good stewards of taxpayers\u2019 money and to ensure we are not wasting money by supporting bad policies that don\u2019t result in deserted outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p4\">Budget of Wasteful \u2018Gimmicks\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>DHS\u2019s FY24 budget request actually tops $103 billion with $60.4 billion defined as \u201cdiscretionary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The department\u2019s 260,000 employees deal with a wide range of domestic security concerns addressed by the Transportation Security Agency, the Coast Guard, FEMA, and the Secret Service.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis proposal is, unfortunately, more disappointing than it is promising,\u201d Joyce said. \u201cThe budget is full of gimmicks that mask the true cost of protecting the homeland and makes our job as appropriators that much more difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The department\u2019s total $60.4 billion budget request is \u201cnearly equal to the current fiscal year,\u201d he said but cited the $4.7 billion for the proposed Southwest Border Contingency Fund and another $1.6 billion in \u201cillegal TSA fees\u201d as wasteful allocations that will cost taxpayers more than $6 billion without addressing border security.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow is not the time for budget gimmicks,\u201d Joyce said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4665606\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript> Shipping containers that are used to fill a 1,000-foot gap in the border wall with Mexico near Yuma, Ariz. (Arizona Governor\u2019s Office via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"p1\">Demurrals On The Wall<\/h2>\n<p>Republicans called the Southwest Border Contingency Fund a \u201cslush fund\u201d with Joyce claiming it \u201cwill spend more hard-earned tax dollars to achieve the same results with less oversight \u2026 that incentivizes this administration to not solve problems and do their job in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration is more dedicated to building more infrastructure for processing illegal immigrants \u201cand then releasing them into the interior, [which] hasn\u2019t worked,\u201d Joyce said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDecreasing detention capacity hasn\u2019t worked. Border security operators have been clear\u2014without [increasing detention capacities] illegal immigration will continue unabated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) said the $4.7 billion fund is \u201cdisturbing\u201d because it essentially concedes the border cannot be safeguarded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat has happened under this administration is instead of trying to stop the flow of illegal immigrants across the border, we\u2019ve just gotten better at processing those immigrants,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Cloud, House Appropriations Committee Chair Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), and Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.) accused Mayorkas of funneling money from revenue streams dedicated to building the border wall established under the Trump administration to other programs and projects.<\/p>\n<p>Granger said there is $2.8 billion set aside to \u201ccomplete the wall\u201d with $200 million of that set to \u201cgo away\u201d unless it is spent \u201cin the next few months.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just going to let that happen?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n<p>Mayorkas would not answer the question but said he has approved 129 \u201cgates and gaps\u201d projects along stretches of the wall that already exist.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5118220\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript> Illegal immigrants, mostly of Venezuelan origin, attempt to forcibly cross into the United States at the Paso del Norte International Bridge in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, on March 12, 2023. (Herika Martinez\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Biden administration is not going to approve any more wall construction, he said, and is espousing technologies, such as drones, and \u201cinvesting in personnel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have approved a number of projects and we will comply with our legal obligations with respect to the funds provided for the wall,\u201d Mayorkas said.<\/p>\n<p>Cloud said DHS prevented Texas from funding portions of the wall on its own. \u201cRight now,\u201d he asked, \u201cwe\u2019re paying for [the] border wall to be stored and not built. Is that correct?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are indeed,\u201d Mayorkas said.<\/p>\n<p>Cloud said Border Patrol and CPB officials themselves say, \u201cthe border wall is the most effective force-multiplier\u201d claiming the budget request \u201ctakes money we\u2019ve already allocated and moves it in different directions, is that correct?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will comply with our legal obligations,\u201d Mayorkas said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not people or infrastructure. It\u2019s both,\u201d Cloud said. \u201cYou are taking what we already appropriated for border wall construction and rescinded that and want to use that for other purposes. Is that correct?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCongressman,\u201d Mayorkas replied, \u201cwe will comply with our legal obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s a well-worded way to get around\u201d answering the question, Cloud said. \u201cYou\u2019re missing the overall objective of securing the border by funding these little legal loopholes to get out of things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI understand we are not going to build a wall from sea to shiny sea,\u201d Guest said, but a wall is effective in certain places in certain sectors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt seems to me this administration is saying we are not going to build any walls. Walls are bad. I disagree with that, walls are beneficial. I think that they do a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\">Fire \u2018Border Czar\u2019 Too<\/h2>\n<p>Hinson said the Border Patrol is budgeted for 19,800 agents but now has only about 19,000. She said Ortiz maintains it needs at least 22,000 agents to effectively patrol the border.<\/p>\n<p>She said DHS should be asking for many more agents, which is an initiative his GOP critics would support.<\/p>\n<p>Mayorkas said the Border Patrol added 300 agents last year and will continue to build its ranks every year. \u201cThere is a limit to how many we can functionally hire in a particular year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said, \u201cWe need more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Good luck, Hinson said. \u201cThe policies of this administration have truly affected retention\u201d and said the budget reflects \u201ca lack of meaningful work to address retention challenges. Throwing out increased numbers looks nice, but it doesn\u2019t actually address the reality of the situation at the southern border.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) suggested if the administration needs more money to hire Border Patrol agents, he has some ideas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s strange that this department wants to add 350 Border Patrol agents and 87,000 armed IRS agents,\u201d he said, suggesting Mayorkas contact the IRS \u201cand see if it wants to share some of that wealth with you and perhaps share some of the funding with you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris said Mayorkas should not be the only administration official to resign over the border situation. Vice President Kamala Harris, as the designated \u201cborder czar,\u201d should also step down, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe last time she was [at the border] was June 2021, that\u2019s more than 2 million crossings ago,\u201d he said. \u201cOur border czar should also resign because she isn\u2019t doing her job.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Any federal department head with a $60.4 billion annual spending request is going to see fiscal hawks on Congressional panels flash their budget-cutting knives in appropriations hearings. But when it comes to embattled United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas\u2014literally, the face of President Joe Biden\u2019s much-maligned border and immigration policies\u2014House Republicans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":509,"featured_media":1906877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[11912,3811,4463,5991,11149,4571,3653,3756,18850,3646],"class_list":["post-1906876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times","tag-11912","tag-border","tag-budget","tag-chiefs","tag-concedes","tag-homeland","tag-house","tag-republicans","tag-secured","tag-security"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/509"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1906876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1906877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1906876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1906876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1906876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}