House Speaker Mike Johnson insisted Sunday that former President Donald Trump is not calling the shots on his chamber's response to the Senate's compromise border bill.
"I am calling the shots for the House," the Lousiana Republican said on NBC News' "Meet the Press." "That's our responsibility, and I have been saying this far longer than President Trump has. I have been saying what the requirements are to fix the problem."
Johnson added that he does not care if the House bill is called HR 2, the border act that passed in the chamber last year but did not advance in the Senate.
"In the nine months since that bill has sat on [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer's desk collecting dust, 1.8 million illegals have been allowed into this country, welcomed into the country, sent around the nation into every community — communities near everyone listening and watching this morning. And that is a catastrophe," said Johnson.
"What we're saying is you have to stem the flow," he added, pointing out that President Joe Biden has the executive authority to lock down the border under federal law.
Johnson's comments come as Democrats have accused House Republicans of trying to stop the Senate from coming to a deal adding border legislation to a bill for funding for Ukraine and Israel so that President Joe Biden would not score a critical win as the 2024 general election nears.
The speaker said Sunday that the House is willing to work with the Senate on border reform, but there must be cooperation.
"I've been very consistent for the hundred days that I've had the gavel. We're willing to work, but they have to be serious about it," said Johnson.
Meanwhile, Johnson said he agrees with House Republicans on their push to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and denied that the matter is politically motivated.
"What we're suggesting here is that Secretary Mayorkas has openly defied federal law — openly, repeatedly engaged in a practice of defying the law that Congress has put on the books and previous presidents have signed," said Johnson.
The secretary has "also lied to Congress," the speaker said. "He has misrepresented facts over and over. And because of that, he's obstructed congressional oversight. All of these are constitutional responsibilities that we are unable to fulfill because this Cabinet secretary has decided to defy federal law."
As a result, he added, "extreme times, desperate times call for desperate measures; and that's where we are."
Johnson also insisted he has not changed his mind about single-party impeachments after his words against the practice while he was serving on Trump's defense team during his first impeachment.
At that time, Johnson said that the "founders of this country warned against single-party impeachments" because they feared such actions would "irreparably divide our nation."
"Impeachment power is probably the heaviest power that the House of Representatives is given in the Constitution," he said. "Next to the declaration of war, you can argue it's the most serious power we have; and it's not to be used for partisan political purposes. That is exactly what they did for Donald Trump."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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