Speaker Johnson planning GOP-only trip to southern border in January

EXCLUSIVE — Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is planning a members-only trip to the southern border at the beginning of the new year, and the conference is set to push hard on the Senate and administration to pass border security reforms.

In an invite obtained by the Washington Examiner, Johnson asked all Republican members on Wednesday to join him on a congressional member delegation to Eagle Pass, Texas, which is along the southern border, on Jan. 2 and 3.

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A spokesman for Johnson declined to comment on the trip.

This comes as House Republicans are putting pressure on President Joe Biden and the Senate to pass “transformative” border security measures and to secure the southern border, which has seen record numbers of illegal immigrants cross over into the country this year.

On Thursday, Johnson wrote to Biden urging him to take executive action to address the surge, pressing him to reinstate a slew of Trump-era policies as border negotiations in the Senate drag on.

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“We passed H.R. 2 more than six months ago, but Senate Democrats have refused to act on it. While a bipartisan group of Senators has begun extensive negotiations over the past few weeks to try to find a compromise, they have not yet been able to finalize an agreement,” Johnson wrote in the letter. “Statutory reforms designed to restore operational control at our southern border must be enacted, but the crisis at our southern border has deteriorated to such an extent that significant action can wait no longer. It must start now, and it must start with you.”

Johnson has also said that the House will not pass Biden’s supplemental request for Israel and Ukraine aid without first approving major policy changes on the border. And while a bipartisan group of senators has been working on a set of border reforms, a deal has yet to come to fruition and may not before the new year.