BORDER CRISIS: Republicans killed the bill

A recent article highlighted the hypocrisy of Idaho’s congressional leaders. Senators Crapo and Risch and Representatives Simpson and Fulcher dared to blame the Biden administration for Idaho’s problems with fentanyl and for not solving the crises at our southern border. Their accusations were made with no mention of their failures to support the bipartisan immigration and border security bill that President Biden would have signed into law.  

However, former President Trump DID NOT want the immigration issues and border concerns remedied before the election because his plan was to run his fear-mongering campaign on the “chaos” at the border. So, Trump pretty much ordered the Republicans in Congress to kill the bill; and, they followed his orders. This is a bill that would have added 1,500 more border patrol agents, would have provided $25 million for programs to counter the flow of fentanyl, along with many other detailed provisions and improvements to our immigration policies. Instead, our Republican leaders decided to go with “chaos,” and then have the shameless audacity to blame the Biden administration for their lack of commitment to the protection and well being of Idahoans. 

Did these sycophants really think the people of Idaho were so poorly informed that they would miss their role in killing this bill? 

In the 1950s, Special Counsel Joseph Welsh asked a question of then Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy that seems apropros: [Sirs,] “Have you no sense of decency?” Senators Crapo and Risch and Representatives Fulcher and Simpson, please do the right thing and admit that for political gain you killed the bill that would have solved/improved many of our most pressing border issues. 

JAN STUDER 

Coeur d’Alene