A key House panel passed a resolution to condemn Vice President Kamala Harris’ handling of the border after convening an emergency session on Tuesday.
The committee meeting announcement came Monday night, just a day after Harris announced she would run for the White House in President Biden’s place. The 81-year-old leader shocked the world on Sunday afternoon when he revealed he would not seek re-election, after mounting pressure from members of his own party to step aside.
The resolution passed the House Rules Committee along party lines on Tuesday afternoon. That committee is the final hurdle for legislation before it hits the House floor for a chamber-wide vote.
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House Rules Committee Chairman Michael Burgess, R-Texas, conceded that the timing of the resolution did come off at least somewhat political, but defended it as a necessary condemnation of the vice president’s failings on the border.
Republicans have for years accused Harris of failing her job as “border czar” after Biden handed her the task of mitigating the “root causes” of illegal immigration after they took office in 2021.
“Everything’s gonna be political this year,” Burgess told a small group of reporters on Tuesday morning. “I wouldn’t know that I spent too much time worrying about something might be political, because that is – that’s the world we live in.”
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When pressed by Fox News Digital on whether that undercuts Republicans’ message on the border, he said, “In June, when those six Americans were murdered by people who are in this country who had no business being here – maybe we should have done this resolution in the middle of June. But nevertheless, we are where we are, and I don’t think it’s any less important now than it would have been then. Fact of the matter is, this is an Article II responsibility to defend our borders.”
The resolution is being led by House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y.
Republicans have signaled that Harris’ handling of the border crisis would be a significant point of attack for them as she takes over Biden’s mantle.
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She has visited Latin America twice as vice president, the last time being a trip to Honduras in 2022.
Sources familiar confirmed to Fox News that Harris has not spoken to Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens, who became chief last year amid a raging crisis at the border which is now into its third year.
The White House accused Republicans of further fueling the border crisis, however, in a statement sent to Fox News Digital.
“As we speak, congressional Republicans continue their months-long blockade of critical resources for ICE and the Border Patrol in the tough bipartisan border security agreement supported by the Biden-Harris Administration. And as those Republicans have said in their own words, they are doing it because Donald Trump is afraid that making America safer would hurt him politically,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said. “This administration’s executive actions have brought unauthorized crossings to a lower level than when Trump left office. President Biden and Vice President Harris are leading on border security, while congressional Republicans sabotage it by disgracefully siding with Donald Trump, fentanyl traffickers, and human smugglers over our national security.
Fox News’ Griff Jenkins contributed to this report
