The White House is pushing back on Republican claims that the Biden administration is failing to secure the U.S. border and criticizing the GOP over the House Freedom Caucus budget proposal.
Earlier this month, the White House released a fact sheet stating that Biden's budget proposal "includes billions of dollars to keep America's borders secure and enforce our immigration laws," and this "funding will be used to modernize border facilities, invest in technology, ensure the safe and humane treatment of migrants in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) custody, and reduce the backlog of immigration cases."
The White House also recently criticized the House Freedom Caucus' proposal as a "five-alarm fire" which would restrict discretionary funding while keeping defense funds at their current level, saying that the math "doesn't add up," in a press release.
The statement said that, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate, in order to balance the budget within 10 years "without raising taxes on the wealthy or corporations, and without cutting Social Security, Medicare, defense and some veteran's benefits-Congressional Republicans would need to eliminate everything else in the Federal budget."
Ivan Zapien, a former official with the Democratic National Committee, told The Hill that Biden appeared to be "going after folks that want to hear he has [a] plan" for the border, "gets there is a problem, and is offering a solution."
Zapien added, "There is a block of voters that can be moved by this message."