Texas Republicans have a new plan to get $11 billion border reimbursement money feds have denied so far.
Texas has so far been snubbed in its push to get the federal government to
reimburse the state $11 billion for the border operation Gov. Greg Abbott launched during the Biden Administration.
But U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, could change that this week when a key committee that he sits on takes up the spending and tax cut package that President Donald Trump has been pressuring Congress to pass. On Wednesday, Roy is expected to try again to add the $11 billion to the spending package before it goes to the full U.S. House for a vote.
Roy's maneuver comes at the same time that U.S. Sens John Cornyn and Ted Cruz have filed a bill that would reimburse states for border security actions they took during the Biden administration. Money spent on border walls, surveillance and apprehending migrants would all be eligible for reimbursement under the legislation.
Abbott has pressured Congress to provide the money, while touting efforts the state took to build more than 60 miles of border walls in addition to deploying thousands of state troopers and Texas Guard members to patrol the border.
If Roy's maneuver is successful and clears the full House, Cornyn said he then expects the Senate to pass the "big, beautiful bill," as Trump has called the spending and tax cut package.
"The states like Texas that stood on the front lines to defend our nation when the federal government would not, deserve to be reimbursed by the very federal government that should have done its job in the first place," Roy said in a statement.
It's not the first time the border reimbursement has been part of the legislation. Earlier this month, the House Judiciary Committee initially included a provision
to send as much as $800 million to states for border reimbursements. But that was axed from the package last week.