Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., on Tuesday lauded proposed legislation to fix the U.S. border crisis, slamming President Joe Biden and Democrats for having "looked the other way" amid illegal migrant crossings and deadly drug smuggling by Mexican cartels.
"Since Biden won't rise to his duty, I'm rising to mine," Scott wrote in a commentary for the Washington Examiner before what's widely expected to be his announcement later this month to run for president in 2024.
Scott and GOP Senate colleagues on April 26 unveiled a pair of bills — "Securing Our Border" and "Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence" — to focus on cartels and "the source of the fentanyl crisis."
"Together, these bills would protect our borders and homeland," Scott said.
Under the border legislation, he wrote, $15 billion would be redirected away from hiring "an army of 87,000 IRS agents" and toward border security initiatives — including "building the border wall system" and "enhancing screening for illicit narcotics and persons," along with "bonuses and other financial incentives" for border agents.
The fentanyl legislation, according to Scott, would "provide a commonsense, common-ground solution to keep fentanyl off our streets and go after the criminal cartels poisoning our communities" — and "the toughest sanctions regime on criminal cartels in American history" to freeze their collective and individual assets.
"The same tactics being used to curb bad actors around the world — economic sanctions, bolstered security forces, investment in technology such as radars and scanners, and efforts to keep morale high for law enforcement officials — should be used right here in America to keep our people safe," Scott wrote.
"We deserve as much from our president, but we are not getting it. ... He has proven incapable of doing so."
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