Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, slammed both parties for working to pass a $1.7 trillion omnibus bill that does little to stem the tide of illegal immigrants flooding the southern border.
Gabbard, who since left the Democratic Party, told "Hannity" guest host Tammy Bruce it is the federal legislature's top job to protect the homeland and ensure liberty, and that the spending package is the latest example of failure to do so.
"[W]hat's at the heart of this is we have Democrats and Republicans, frankly, in Congress who are failing at their most basic and foremost responsibility, which is to ensure the safety, security and freedom of the American people, and that starts with securing our border," she said Thursday.
"We don't have a country if we don't have a secure border. You talked about this $1.7 trillion funding bill that the Senate just passed and the House will pass very likely soon," she continued. "Well, there's about $1.5 billion there that's been set aside for Customs and Border Protection, border security. The problem is the language also says they're not actually allowed to use any of that money to secure the border."
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Lawmakers therefore don't care about border security or are incompetent, Gabbard said.
"Either way, they're failing at their jobs. They either need to step up to the plate and do their job, or they need to be replaced."
Gabbard recounted serving in several different levels of government over time, from Honolulu City Council to the U.S. Congress, saying at each level, the Feds have often said there's not enough money in their coffers to fund whatever endeavor that particular legislature is seeking appropriations for.
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"As we see in this $1.7 trillion bill, they're sending hundreds of millions of dollars to secure other countries' borders," she said. "They're spending an incredible amount of money to feed into the military-industrial complex, but not willing to do what is necessary to secure our own border and support the needs of the American people right here at home."
"There's a lot to be done at the border. There's a lot that should be done at the border, things like let's deploy more of the National Guard… to actually supplement and provide this immediate need to help secure our border, fix this broken asylum process… "
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Gabbard called for immediate deportation of and reentry prohibition for migrants proven to have entered illegally as the crisis intensifies.
In response, Bruce pointed out how in 2021, a Democratic lawmaker representing El Paso lauded the city as America's "new Ellis Island," calling it an "invitation if I ever heard one" for further illegal immigration.
"Exactly," Gabbard replied. "And yet they have the audacity over and over again to say, 'Oh no, our borders are not open. We don't have open borders.'"
"You look at the proof, and you look at the crisis that we are facing at the border right now."
