Milwaukee Trip Draws Criticism as Harris Continues to Dodge the Southern Border and Tout Wasteful Spending Proposals
[Madison, WI] – Yesterday, Vice President Kamala Harris visited Milwaukee — the latest stop in her national tour designed to convey how little she cares about the crisis at our southern border. Wisconsin Republicans and the media took notice, as officials at all levels criticized Harris’ use of Wisconsin to continue to dodge her responsibilities as Biden’s border manager and tout her $6 trillion tax and spending plan.
Critics who blasted Harris’ visit included Republican members of the Wisconsin State Assembly Reps. Jim Steineke and Tyler August, who recently visited the southern border and experienced the Biden administration’s disastrous handling of the crisis firsthand.
Check out what they’re saying on Kamala Harris’ visit here:
From AP: “Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, in a statement Tuesday, called Biden’s plan a ‘boondoggle’ and said he was interested to see how Harris justifies the spending. ‘Instead of creating more opportunities, it will kill people’s jobs, increase their taxes, and further implement radical leftists’ agenda,’ Johnson said. ‘Happy to have her visit Milwaukee, but she really ought to inspect the crisis President Biden created at the border.’”
From WKOW: “Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke (R-Kaukauna) and Speaker Pro Tempore Tyler August (R-Lake Geneva) accused Vice President Kamala Harris of failing in her duties of leading the response to a surge in illegal border crossings. The lawmakers said Harris should have visited the southern border before coming to Wisconsin, where she touted the Biden administration’s pandemic recovery plans in Milwaukee. ‘It’s great that she’s here in Wisconsin but the border is on fire,’ Steineke said. ’Our country is being invaded; that’s not our words, that’s the words of local law enforcement in that area.’”
From Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “GOP officials have also been criticizing Harris for not visiting the U.S.-Mexico border ever since Biden announced in March that she had been picked to lead U.S. diplomatic efforts to stem migration. ‘Kamala Harris should be visiting the southern border, given it has been nearly a month and a half since being tasked with managing the border crisis, and she still has not found time to address a problem that has spiraled out of control,’ [Republican Party of Wisconsin Chairman] Hitt said in a statement.”
From Spectrum 1: “Republicans say the plan is too expensive and are calling for it to be scaled back. ‘We need an infrastructure plan that actually helps us,’ Republican Party of Wisconsin Chair Andrew Hitt said. ‘Less than 10% of it goes to roads and bridges and ports and airports, what we would typically expect out of an infrastructure bill.’”
From Wisconsin Public Radio: “State party vice chairman Gerard Randall argued the plan has the wrong priorities, saying it should focus on full federal funding of lead pipe replacement and more investment in job training for students and workers.”
From Rep. Glenn Grothman: “For Kamala Harris to spend one more day not at the border is to send the message to the Mexican drug cartels and potential illegal immigrants around the world that the United States does not care about our immigration laws… While Wisconsinites should normally be happy to host the Vice President, in this case, we are being used as a pawn in her game of showing how little she cares about the border.”
From Rep. Mike Gallagher: “Ignoring a crisis doesn’t simply end the crisis. The Biden-Harris administration has spent more time touting a $2 TRILLION infrastructure package than addressing the failures at the Southern border. That’s the 100 day legacy.”
From Rep. Bryan Steil: “Today, Vice President Harris is trying to sell Wisconsinites another Biden-Pelosi agenda of wasteful spending. Instead, she should be listening to Wisconsin families that don’t want inefficient spending and higher taxes.”
From Rep. Scott Fitzgerald: “VP Kamala Harris went on a road trip – not to the southern border where she is presiding over a crisis – but to Wisconsin to tout the Administration’s latest infrastructure plan. Their plan to pay for this proposal? Cut jobs and raise taxes.”