Increase in Republicans Preferring Shutdown Over Border

A “Dear Colleague” letter by a Texas Republican earlier this week about tying southern border security to funding the federal government is gaining traction, with more than a dozen GOP lawmakers now supporting the idea.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, urged House Republicans on Tuesday to make funding the government “contingent on the president signing H.R. 2, or its functional equivalent, into law” to stem the flow of migrants pouring through the southern border. Roy’s letter came ahead of a trip to the border that was attended by 65 Republicans.

Now, 14 House Republicans are in favor of shutting down the government, Politico reported Friday.

“The president and Senate majority leader have no interest in securing the border, and so therefore, we as a House majority should say, ‘We’re not going to fund a government that is going to continue to facilitate this border invasion,'” Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good, R-Va., told The Washington Post.

The movement isn’t yet enough to pose a problem for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., whose first priority next week when the House is back in session is to tackle the first batch of spending bills that are coming due on Jan. 19. A second batch is due Feb. 2. Johnson has stopped short of backing the movement but told reporters earlier this week that “We want to get the border closed and secured first.”

A Customs and Border Protection source told Newsmax on Monday that there were about 302,000 encounters at the southern border in December, surpassing the record for a month of 269,735 in September. 

Republicans first tied approval for Biden’s $106 billion supplemental aid package for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and the border to an overhaul of the administration’s border policy. But Roy’s call to urgent action to address the worsening border crisis changed the game for the 14 conservatives.

“Use of our constitutional authority to withhold funds to force adherence to the law comes with cries of ‘government shutdown’ and concerns we will fail to sustain key priorities such as funding for troops and Border Patrol agents themselves,” Roy wrote.

“These claims can be dismissed if we pass legislation to fund those very basic responsibilities … while withholding funding for the vast majority of the federal government until it performs its basic duty to defend the borders of a supposedly sovereign nation.”

Roy’s letter also struck a chord with at least two Senate Republicans, Rick Scott of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah.

“I will not vote to fund the government until our border is secure,” Lee posted to X, formerly Twitter.

Said Scott, “There’s going to be a big effort to make sure we do nothing on funding unless we secure the border. That’s going to be the big fight.”