WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, introduced legislation Thursday intended to provide the state about $11 billion to cover what it spent on border security during former President Joe Biden’s istration.
Cornyn said Biden failed to keep the border secure and forced Texas to step up with what it called Operation Lone Star.
That initiative has involved sending state troopers and National Guard soldiers to the border, as well as putting razor wire and other physical barriers along the Rio Grande.
“Texas did what it could, using the resources that it could, to fill the gap while the federal government whose responsibility it is to secure the border, did virtually nothing,” Cornyn told reporters Thursday.
Gov. Greg Abbott has traveled to Washington, D.C., multiple times this year, personally making the case for reimbursement to Republican leaders on Capitol Hill and President Donald Trump.
Abbott described an Oval Office pitch to Trump as a real estate deal, saying he highlighted how Texas could help the new istration’s efforts to secure the border and facilitate deportations.
His offer included land for additional wall construction, military bases to house federal authorities and detention facilities.
Texas Republicans are hoping to include the reimbursement language in a sweeping legislative package moving through a process called budget reconciliation that does not require votes from Democrats.
Cornyn said the idea is for U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, to add the reimbursement provisions to that package when it reaches the House Rules Committee.
Cornyn said he hopes that legislation, with the reimbursement provisions, will be wrapped up by the end of July.