Republican Floats Refusing to Invite Biden For State of the Union Until Border is Secured

Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo on Monday that House Republicans should consider not inviting President Joe Biden for the State of the Union address until the southern border is secured.

“President Biden apparently believes that his state of the Union address next week is going to be a reset for him,” Bartiromo began, adding:

Okay, so you’re talking about the open border, which the Republicans have failed to secure. Now, some Republican lawmakers are considering a bill that will prohibit the House or Senate leadership from inviting Biden to address Congress. Would you go that far to say, no, you’re not going to address America with the State of the Union until you secure the border? What kind of leverage are you going to have to get this border secured? We’re seeing an impact all across the country. A nursing student is dead because a yes, because of a migrant who came from Venezuela in September of 2022 through the open border in El Paso, Texas.

“Yeah, these illegal foreign nationals pouring in, the fentanyl pouring and the deaths, rising across America. We need to use every single point of leverage, every single point, Maria, including the spending, and certainly including an address to the people from Congress. He comes at the invitation of Congress. The Republicans are in charge of the House. There’s no reason that we need to invite him to get more propaganda and to actually blame the American people for the crisis he caused. We can spend the time reminding America that on day one, he countervailed the last administration’s policies that were securing our border. That’s what probably the time would be better spent served using,” Perry replied.

“So you think the state of the Union will be propaganda?” Bartiromo followed up.

“Well, I think the State of the Union is a certain amount of propaganda regardless. But blaming the Republicans for this. I remind everybody that we passed the best border security package ever to come through Congress a year in a year and a half ago or so. It’s dead in the Senate, and the president won’t discuss it. How about we talk about that? You put that with some kind of spending bill and we can get a deal done. But until he’s going to do that and enforce it, I think we’re going to be at odds,” Perry replied.

Notably, the Constitution requires the president to give Congress information on the “State of the Union,” but an address before Congress only became an annual tradition after 1913.

Watch the clip above via Fox Business.

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