WASHINGTON — Gov. Greg Abbott returned to the nation’s capital Wednesday in his ongoing pursuit of $11 billion from the federal government to cover the cost of the state’s 4-year-old border security initiative Operation Lone Star.
Making his second trip to Washington in eight days, Abbott met Wednesday with most of the Texas Republican congressional delegation, which is seeking to exert its leverage as the largest state GOP delegation in the House.
Abbott later met with U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who was asked by reporters about the $11 billion request as he walked into his office for the meeting.
“I’m visiting with the governor right now and I’m not sure about any of that,” Johnson responded.
Abbott left the meeting a little over a half hour later, providing no details beyond telling reporters, “The speaker’s always great.”
Abbott and former President Joe Biden clashed regularly on border policies during the past four years. Abbott criticized Biden’s approach as too lax and said his failure to secure the border forced Texas to fill the void.
Abbott’s initiatives included sending state troopers and Texas National Guard soldiers to the border, stringing buoys across the Rio Grande and erecting razor wire barriers in an attempt to block migrants from entering the country. He also bused more than 100,000 migrants to Democratic-run cities in other states.
Those operations came with a price tag the governor has pegged at $11.1 billion, and he says the federal government should cover it.
His reimbursement request comes as Republicans, facing slim majorities in the House and Senate, wrangle internally over what to prioritize in their budget plans.
Some GOP members have stressed tax cuts, while others are focused on robust defense spending or massive deficit reduction.
U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, is a prominent member of the deeply conservative House Freedom Caucus and has been pushing fellow Republicans to cut spending. He told reporters Wednesday there should be room in the money Republicans allocate for border-related expenses to reimburse Texas for what it has spent.
“That’s money that could be used for roads, for schools, for DPS, who should have been in Austin and Dallas and San Antonio and Houston and not down on the border,” Roy said. “They were doing the job the federal government was supposed to do.”
The U.S. government, Roy said, could get something in return for its money.
Abbott met last week with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office and told him the state can offer billions of dollars worth of assets to bolster federal border security and immigration enforcement efforts.
Those assets include land for expanding the border wall, military bases to house federal authorities and prison cells to use for detention facilities.
U.S. Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Terrell, said after Wednesday’s meeting with Abbott the group is on the same page.
Gooden also said the Texas request is not a tall order. He noted the New York delegation has been demanding changes to a cap on the federal deduction for state and local taxes.
“We think the people of Texas should be reimbursed for the money they’ve already spent and are spending to secure our borders,” Gooden said.
