Senior Fox Analyst Slams Republicans for Killing Border Bill

On Feb 15, Brit Hume, Fox’s Chief Political Analyst, harshly criticized Republicans for killing the bipartisan deal after it passed the Senate. He warned that the GOP was at risk of appearing completely ineffective.

Stark criticism

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Hume called Biden’s bipartisan bill “the strongest border protection bill that I’ve seen in my time in Washington.” However, it was clearly not strong enough for far-right Republicans in the House, who killed the deal on Feb 7.

Serious problem

According to Hume, Republicans were “in danger of losing the advantage they have vis-à-vis Biden on the issue of the border and on the issue of Ukraine funding, Israel funding, funding to defend Taiwan because they are refusing to act on these measures that would deal with that.”

Multiple refusals

After killing the combined border bill, House Speaker Mike Johnson refused to allow a foreign aid bill to enter the House floor. The bill would have sent almost $100 billion to Ukraine, Israel, other allies like Taiwan, and organizations helping victims of conflicts.

Do something

“I call on the speaker to let the full House speak its mind and not allow a minority of the most extreme voices in the House to block this bill even from being voted on,” Biden stated. “This bipartisan bill sends a clear message to Ukrainians and to our partners and to our allies around the world—America can be trusted, America can be relied upon and America stands up for freedom.”

Dubious alliances

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“We stand strong for our allies,” Biden said. “We never bow down to anyone, and certainly not to Vladimir Putin.” Biden’s statement came just days after Trump suggested he would let Russia “do whatever the h…ll they want” to NATO members that failed to meet their 2% funding target.

Major issue

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“I think these are a couple of issues that put Republicans in peril of looking like literally a do-nothing Congress,” Hume warned.

Gridlock

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In December, NPR reported that the current Congress was “the least productive in decades.” Through the end of 2023, the Republican-controlled house passed just 27 bills that became law, despite voting almost 750 times.

Unprecedented

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The last time Republicans controlled the House and Democrats controlled the Senate was about a decade ago. During that Congress, the House passed 72 bills that became law.

Seriously conservative

Biden described the bipartisan border deal as “the toughest and fairest set of border reforms in decades.” Senior Republicans, including Mitch McConnell, acknowledged that it contained concessions that the GOP would never receive from Democrats under a Republican president.

Dangerous for both sides

According to an article in The Nation, “the 370-page border bill that Democrats signed off on reads like a GOP wish list. Perhaps that’s because Republicans helped write the bill (though many of them promptly turned around and helped tank it after Donald Trump announced his opposition).”

Campaign strategy

Democrats have slammed Republicans for tanking the border deal, accusing them of refusing to fix what they themselves have labeled a crisis. “By adopting Republican framing and policy on immigration, and still getting rebuffed, this thinking goes, Democrats will show voters that Trump-driven hysteria is to blame for the supposed “crisis” at the border,” the Nation explained.

Disbelief

“We followed their instructions to the letter,” Democratic Senator Chris Murphy told reporters in disbelief. “Just gobsmacked. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Democratic Senator Brian Schatz posted on X. Senate Republicans “literally demanded specific policy, got it, and then killed it.”