The House Freedom Caucus informed House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) in a letter that the Trump administration has “immediate resources” to address the border crisis and that a “larger reconciliation bill” can be addressed at a later date. In explaining his view Monday, Harris explained that tax legislation would take too long to discuss in Congress, whereas a bill addressing the border could be achieved “within 30 days” of Donald Trump being sworn in as president.

Today, the House Freedom Caucus Board of Directors sent the following letter to Speaker Johnson regarding reconciliation: pic.twitter.com/a3iDbVU0ZJ

— House Freedom Caucus (@freedomcaucus) December 13, 2024

“So what you do is you have two reconciliation bills going through the process: the first one, strictly border or maybe border and defense, as Sen. [Mike] Lee (R-UT) said, and then the second one, this big omnibus package that also includes trillions of dollars in spending cuts,” Harris said on Fox Business’s Mornings with Maria Bartiromo. “But again, that’s going to take months to work out. We need to deliver on the border now, we need to make sure the president has the resources necessary to close the border, and then to repatriate the millions of people who are here illegally, over a million on an active deportation order. He needs the resources, he needs it now, the American people have sent a pretty clear mandate in November to stop the border nonsense that went on with this administration.”

When Bartiromo pressed Harris on whether Congress can pass legislation addressing both the border and inflation before April 30, 2025, Harris said he did not think so, as the latter would “drag on into the summer” whereas the border needs an immediate resolution. He also said the border issue is the easiest topic for Congress to address and that voters are looking for “a statement” from both the incoming president and Congress on this matter.

“We will deliver tax relief to the American people, but we need to deliver on the border, we need to do it soon,” Harris said. “That’s why we take the two-pronged approach.”

The border was a major issue that Trump campaigned on en route to defeating Vice President Kamala Harris at the ballot box. Ahead of Jan. 20, 2025, when Trump will return to power in the White House, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley issued a call for the president-elect to get all of his Cabinet nominees confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate, as the first 100 days of the president’s administration needs to “start moving seriously.”

Sen.-elect Bernie Moreno (R-OH) has similarly called for Republicans to cooperate and work to confirm Trump’s Cabinet, noting that the 2024 election was ultimately about “open borders and high prices” that voters want to see addressed. He also argued that the idea of Washington taking “forever” to address issues is no longer present and pushed for the GOP to achieve its mandate set by voters in an expedient manner.