On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” Biden Senior Adviser Gene Sperling responded to a question on what the administration is doing to help states on the border deal with the financial burden of the problems on the border by saying that the American Rescue Plan “has helped state coffers as much as probably any particular policy, both the amounts of funds and the fact that it’s led to greater growth and surged revenue.” And President Biden wants comprehensive immigration reform.
Host Martha MacCallum asked, “When you look at what’s going on out there, you look at the burden on these border states and the reason that they have made some of these decisions to — people have been, by the way, have been flown around on planes to all — to states all over the place for the past two years, this is nothing new. But, for the border states, what are you doing for them to help ease the burden of these increased costs? You heard…some of our prior guests talk about the pressure on the Border Patrol. What is happening to help Texas deal with this situation? What are you doing to help them?”
Sperling responded, “Well, first of all, this is still a period where you’ve had a historic American Rescue Plan that has helped state coffers as much as probably any particular policy, both the amounts of funds and the fact that it’s led to greater growth and surged revenue. And finally, let’s be honest, this is a problem that has been going on for a long time, the issue of immigration, and the best thing to do is, as we have worked to have a bipartisan immigration bill — I mean bipartisan infrastructure bill, as we’ve worked for a historic, bipartisan semiconducter bill, it’s time for people to start working, again, returning to the table, for a bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform bill. And you know, that’s something this President remains, of course, open to.”
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