The White House statement comes after a week of frantic negotiations in the Senate.

The White House statement comes after a week of frantic negotiations in the Senate.

President Joe Biden on Friday urged Congress to pass a bipartisan bill to address the immigration crisis at the nation’s southern border, saying he would shut down the border the day the bill became law.

“What’s been negotiated would — if passed into law — be the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country,” Biden said in a statement. “It would give me, as President, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed. And if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law.”

Biden’s Friday evening statement resembles a ramping up in rhetoric for the administration, placing the president philosophically in the camp arguing that the border may hit a point where closure is needed. The White House’s decision to have Biden weigh in also speaks to the delicate nature of the dealmaking, and the urgency facing his administration to take action on the border — particularly during an election year, when Republicans have used the issue to rally their base.

The president is also daring Republicans to reject the deal as it faces a make-or-break moment amid GOP fissures.

  • lennybird@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    9 months ago

    I’ll try to narrow down to my central point, but first points I agree with:

    • Yeah, I believe Biden should do as much as possible to alleviate the suffering for those seeking a better life and seeking asylum within the purview of existing laws.

    • Yeah I agree the filibuster should be ditched (thank Sinema for blocking that)

    • Yeah I agree the Supreme Court needs overhauled (though I can’t say I’m a legal expert and I know there are a few routes to take with this).

    The existential question at hand is: How do we keep Trump and the Republican party and Project 2025 away from power?

    Because if entropy teaches us anything, it’s always easier to smash a a trillion-piece puzzle than to preserve it let alone build upon it.

    Would Biden be acting this way if he had a super-majority in Congress and a fair Supreme Court? I think the answer is fairly clear that he would not. So I think this is what we need to work towards first and foremost.

    “The border is in crisis right now, but I think Democrats are doing a good job,” just seems like a really unlikely pair of opinions to hold to me.

    But here’s the key thing: This is the position of many. From that link I gave you, along with this WaPo article titled, "Democrats’ border problem is getting real – they highlight the fact that this is impacting not just swing-voters and independents, but a large swath of Democrats, themselves. That is, indeed, a problem that the Biden administration is clearly concerned about.

    Nevertheless, until polling shifts I truly don’t think the Biden administration has a choice but to cater to the concerns of these crucial voters, lest he loses and things get very bad very quickly. In the end I believe it would be incredibly hard to pith during an Oval Office meeting to Biden by saying, “Yeah independents, swing voters, and even a large chunk of Democrats consider the (manufactured) border crisis a huge issue, but we don’t believe you should concern yourself with this.” Meanwhile Ukraine’s funding is slipping because of Republicans holding this aid hostage. Unfortunately because of this, every single press conversation and every single debate with Republicans is going to arise the issue of the border crisis.

    And while I completely agree with you that that we should “change the conversation” and go to the root of the problem and try to alter the outcome of the polls themselves, that’s a long-term strategy and easier said than done when right-wing media propaganda has complete domination on the national narrative — especially in the aftermath of Citizens United and SpeechNow decisions. Forget the fact that there is a clear foreign presence influencing dialogue as well (Russia; likely China). In that respect, I also do think that Biden should redirect the conversation every single time to not just climate change, but to the domestic right-wing extremist terrorist threat within our borders itself. Any time the border comes up, redirect to the threat to Democracy itself and the FBI’s pointing out that these are the most dangerous individuals to national security. Not the poor migrants fleeing crime and poverty south of the border. But simultaneously, Biden’s campaign has little choice but to respond to the polls as they are now and address it. And to me, I love the move to side-step Republicans and call their bluff.