House Passes Secure Border Act of 2023

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The Secure Border Act of 2023 has passed in the House and now moves on to the Senate. Representative Dan Newhouse says he voted in favor of the resolution because it includes both border security and ag workforce reform.

“Once we got the commitment on the part of leadership and the conference that those two ideas would move together in the event that legislation is sent to the President, then I was very comfortable being able to support the improvements to our border security which, as you know, has gotten out of hand the last several years and efforts like this are absolutely essential to protect the sovereignty of our country.” 

Newhouse says it’s unlike anything they’ve put together.

“I think it was historic legislation that we passed. It’s in the Senate now, as you said. You now, in a Democrat majority Senate versus a Republican majority House, obviously there are some areas of contention. But the one fact remains, no matter which party you’re in, you can’t ignore the fact that the border is out of control, and we certainly have a crisis there.” 

And now, Newhouse says he’s looking forward to what the Senate does.

“And I’m very anxious for them to tackle this issue and send us back their version so that we can work through conference a compromise that we’ll be able to send to the president. They can certainly put their mark on the legislation and make improvements or changes, but I think the problem is so dire that we can’t ignore it and it would be a shame if we lose this opportunity to make much, much needed improvements in our border security.” 

Newhouse says, with everything we’re seeing, the border situation is a mess.

“The number of people that are coming across illegally, the amount of illicit drugs that are coming into our communities, the number of people in our country that are dying from drug overdoses, much of it sourced from our southern border. You know, these are things that touch everyone, whether you’re in a large city or small, rural community in Central Washington. These are huge issues that we have to address and so I’m encouraging the Senate to tackle this and let’s get something to the President to help solve this crisis.” 

Addressing reports that the President says he might veto the legislation, Newhouse says that would be really unfortunate, essentially saying the status-quo is okay.