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The day after the bipartisan compromise on border policy and security aid was unveiled, one Republican after another lined up to announce their opposition. A few hours ago, they were joined by Sen. John Barrasso — the No. 3 Republican in the chamber, and the highest-ranking GOP leader to reject the legislative deal.
“Americans will turn to the upcoming election to end the border crisis,” the Wyoming senator said in a written statement.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan made a similar comment during an appearance on Fox Business:
Let’s say ‘timeout’ and then let the American people decide how we want to deal with this in November, when we have President Trump ... against President Biden. Let the country decide.
In other words, as far as the Ohio Republican is concerned, Congress shouldn’t just reject the bipartisan compromise, Jordan believes lawmakers should take a timeout for the remainder of the legislative session, ceasing all work on matters related to immigration and border policy.
It’s a perspective rooted in the idea that voters will decide the future of the policy. If Americans want the conservative approach embraced by President Joe Biden, they can re-elect him. If the electorate wants an even more far-right policy, people can back the likely GOP nominee.
I imagine some might find this solution reasonable. It is not.
First, even if Americans re-elect the Democratic incumbent, recent history suggests folks like Jordan won’t accept the legitimacy of the outcome. It’s one thing to say, “Let the country decide”; it’s something else to honor the results after the country has already decided.
Second, Republicans really need to make up their minds about the urgency of the matter at hand. They can say conditions at the border are an ongoing crisis in need of immediate attention, or they can say the country can afford to take an 11-month timeout during which time the problem will fester. But to make both assertions simultaneously is ridiculous.
Finally, while “let the American people decide” might have some superficial appeal, let’s not forget the inconvenient fact that that the American people already decided. They elected a president, 100 senators, and 435 representatives. Voters made these choices in free and fair elections, with the expectation that those who govern in their name would actually try to act in the nation’s interests.
No one voted with the assumption that lawmakers would effectively take an election year off.
To hear Jordan tell it, the responsible course of action is for elected lawmakers to simply stop working, roughly halfway through the current Congress, on an issue that he and his party believe is critically important.
The far-right Judiciary Committee chair might even get his way on this, as GOP lawmakers scramble to kill a bipartisan solution, but that won’t make it right.