US President Joe Biden said that Republicans are refusing to support a bipartisan agreement on border security and aid to Ukraine because of Donald Trump, The New York Times reports. Biden believes that his likely rival in the presidential race is not interested in solving the problem with illegal immigrants and wants to use it for political campaigning.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday directly blamed his predecessor and presumed rival for the failure of the immigration deal, The New York Times reported. The Republicans’ decision to oppose the deal, which they had previously pushed for, has not only paralysed the debate over border security but also jeopardised $118 billion in financial aid to Ukraine and Israel.
“All indications are that this bill will not even be considered in the Senate,” Biden said in a televised statement from the White House. – Why? The simple reason: Donald Trump. Because Donald Trump thinks it’s bad for him politically.” The president pointed out that his rival “would rather use this problem” in political campaigning and has absolutely no interest in solving it. The head of state called on Republicans in Congress to “show grit” and fight back against Donald Trump.
In his speech, Biden called the bipartisan agreement “a victory for America” because it combines “the fairest, most humane reforms” on the immigration issue and “the toughest series of reforms for border security” amid a record flow of illegal immigrants. To bolster his argument, he recalled the support of organisations that typically side with Republicans, including The Wall Street Journal editorial board, the US Chamber of Commerce and the National Border Services Council.
As The New York Times notes, the president had previously been careful to stay out of the negotiations so as not to overreach. Now he has admitted that the agreement, which had been negotiated for months, was doomed to failure from the start, and promised to make it one of the themes of his campaign against the opposition.
