Here we go again

Not all Republicans buy into the chaos being driven by the House Freedom Caucus. A few of them want to do what they were elected to office to do-legislate. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) has proposed bipartisan House legislation that addresses both international financial need and the border. Perhaps if a Republican leads the way, Johnson and the rest of the renegade Republicans will listen. According to ABC News, this package is called “Defending Borders, Defending Democracy Act,” and it proposes $66.3 billion, the largest portion of which ($47.69 billion) would go to Ukraine. As for the border, the proposed legislation would stop the entry of inadmissible immigrants and would require them to be immediately detained and expelled. This legislation obviously calls for a bit more work than the earlier proposal, which would have allowed President Biden to simply shut down the borders in certain instances, allowing no one to cross while closed.

ABC News also reported that Mike Johnson requested a meeting with President Biden, who responded: “What is there to negotiate?” Exactly. Johnson has no interest in doing anything that will help Biden while taking away Trump’s main stumping issue. The thing about Trump, though, is he could have put together a border bill while he was in office, but he never did. Now, they expect a miracle, especially if it helps Donald Trump. No need to protect the security of the U.S. unless Trump is in office. This is yet another mark against the pro-Trump Republicans. They have no interest in doing anything that will help the country. The issue needs to be resolved; it shouldn’t matter who resolves it. That is their job as legislators, but they are refusing to do their jobs.

Fitzpatrick pointed out that it is their job to legislate and that he has plans to discuss it with Johnson. Something else Fitzpatrick said makes a lot of sense: “As the world’s oldest and strongest democracy, the United States’ primary responsibility must be to secure its own borders. But we also have an obligation to assist our allies in securing their borders, especially when they come under assault by dictators, terrorists, and totalitarians.” That is exactly what is happening abroad right now. It is doubtful that Trump would do anything about it because of his love for Putin. Hell, Trump would probably give Putin weapons. But while there are still some sane Republicans in office, they need to work with Democrats to get this done. Because Fitzpatrick believes in the importance of these issues, he worked on the proposal with both Republicans and Democrats. This is the way legislation should work, and it worked just fine that way before the emergence of Donald Trump.

It’s time to let Donald Trump go and get back to taking care of this country and the people in it-all the people regardless of political leanings. Everyone seems to have forgotten: “united we stand, divided we fall,” and we are freefalling. It’s time for the people we sent to Washington to earn their taxpayer pay by doing their jobs. Nothing could be simpler.