DeSantis, Massie say Congress has constitutional requirement to stop funding border crisis

Rep. Thomas Massie R-Ky., and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are arguing Congress has a constitutional duty to stop funding Biden administration policies that they argue have created the border crisis.

They responded to the escalating conflict between the president and 25 Republican governors in a constitutional battle over state sovereignty, which is currently playing out in Texas.

“Congress has the trump card. We can refuse to fund activity we do not agree with,” Massie said. “For instance, in March, when funding expires, we can put a rider in the next bill that says none of the money hereby appropriated can be used to countermand border security measures of the states.”

Agreeing with Massie, DeSantis quoted founding father James Madison from the Federalist No. 58, who wrote, “This power over the purse may, in fact, be regarded as the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people, for obtaining a redress of every grievance, and for carrying into effect every just and salutary measure.”

He also asked, “How many congressmen rail against Biden’s transgressions yet still vote to fund them?”

They echoed a sentiment expressed by Texas border residents who told The Center Square that if Congress continues to use taxpayer dollars to fund policies that facilitate the border crisis, Congress is complicit in creating it and a national security threat.

President Joe Biden has not only demanded that Texas remove its border barriers but has also called on Congress to allocate $13.6 billion to fund “border enforcement and migration management.” This includes hiring more judges and asylum staffers “to expedite the screening process” to release more people into the U.S., White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt said. House Republicans have “refused to take up the President’s supplemental funding request. Actions speak louder than words. It's time for House Republicans to act,” he said.

Continued funding of current policies only means Congress “is complicit in the invasion,” Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith told The Center Square. Kinney County, a small Texas border community, was the first Texas county to declare an invasion. Three years into the border crisis, 51 Texas counties have declared an invasion; nearly 100 have either issued disaster or invasion declarations, or both, citing the border crisis.

“Congress can stop this invasion right now with the power of the purse,” Smith said. “Our government is funding this invasion with our tax dollars. It needs to stop. We don’t know who is coming in. It only took 19 people to change the world as we know it on 9/11. That’s a fraction of the thousands coming through an hour and we don’t know who they are.

“Congress has the constitutional authority, and most importantly, the responsibility to ensure that federal funding promotes and protects the safety and security of American citizens. Our homeland is more vulnerable today to a terrorist attack because of the ongoing border crisis. And this is preventable.”

Retired FBI directors and national security experts agree, sending a letter to congressional leaders this week warning that the “invasion at the border is perilous for America. In its modern history the U.S. has never suffered an invasion of the homeland, and, yet, one is unfolding now.”

They warned about the likelihood of an imminent but preventable terrorist attack that would likely be committed by one of the estimated millions of mostly single military age men who have been released into the country by the Biden administration.

“It would be difficult to overstate the danger represented by the presence inside our borders of what is comparatively a multi division army of young single adult males from hostile nations and regions whose background, intent, or allegiance is completely unknown,” they wrote.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, has said the House will not support a funding bill that does not prioritize securing the U.S. borders.