Fox Host Confronts Republican on House GOP ‘Vacation’ Amid Border Crisis

Representative Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican, responded to criticism on Sunday by Fox News host Shannon Bream about Republicans taking a “vacation” amid ongoing debates over a U.S.-Mexico border bill and further aid to Ukraine.

The Senate passed a bipartisan foreign aid bill earlier this month that seeks to provide military aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The Senate approved the foreign aid spending bill in a 70-29 vote, which provides $61 billion to Ukraine as it continues to fight in its ongoing war with Russia. The bill now moves to the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, has expressed opposition to the legislation, calling for additional measures to be added relating to securing the U.S.-Mexico border.

Following the passage of the bill in the Senate, President Joe Biden called on House members to vote in favor of moving it forward so he can sign it.

“I call on the speaker to let the full House speak its mind and not allow a minority of the most extreme voices in the House to block this bill even from being voted on,” Biden said. “This is a critical act for the House to move.”

However, the House is taking a 13-day recess, which has stalled the bill. During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Mace discussed the stall in additional aid to Ukraine amid the growing tensions at the southern border.

“Before anything else happens with Ukraine and the U.S. funding for Ukraine, what I want to know is what are we doing about the invasion and international security at our southern border,” Mace said.

However, Bream noted a criticism from Biden in regards to the stall in which the president previously said, regarding Republicans and the 13-day recess, “you just went on vacation” instead of staying to get the bill moving.

On Sunday, Bream also pointed to Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s criticism of the stall in which the former South Carolina governor said, “The problem is Congress should have gotten in a room and kept going until they could get a strong bill, instead they went home on break for two weeks and then [Donald] Trump goes and tells them to not get anything done until after the general election.”

Trump has previously urged Republicans not to accept anything less than a “perfect” border deal before the general election in November, sparking questions about whether some Republicans are working to prevent Biden from scoring a victory by signing the border bill into law.

Immigration is among the top issues ahead of the 2024 presidential election, with polls showing doubts over Biden’s handling of the situation, on which Republican frontrunner Trump has promised tougher action. There were more than 2.4 million encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border during the 2023 fiscal year, up from roughly 1.7 million in 2021, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.

Bream then asked the congresswoman: “What about this idea, this criticism that president Trump is calling the shots telling you guys what to do, you are not solving the border when you could, heat from the White House and from the GOP?”

Mace refuted the idea that she is taking a vacation, adding that she does not take orders from anybody.

“Well first of all I don’t ever take a break, I work seven days a week and I also don’t take orders from anybody. I don’t care if they have a R or a D by their name, but the truth of the matter is, to fact check that remark, is that the House Republicans has sent over not one, but two border security bills.”

Newsweek has reached out to Mace’s office and the White House via email for comment.

Mace’s comments come after the text of the much-hyped bipartisan border security bill was released earlier this month, introducing what would be the most substantial border security reform in years, alongside aid packages for Ukraine and Israel.

However, the $118 billion deal that would address key concerns at the southern border, was struck down by the GOP-led House as conservative hardliners argue the bill does not go far enough to end illegal immigration into the U.S.