WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Tim Scott (R-SC), and colleagues today introduced the Securing Our Border Act to redirect $15 billion of funding passed by Democrats to hire 87,000 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents and utilizes it to bolster security measures along our southern border.

“We still have a crisis at the border, and the Biden administration has refused to take it seriously for over two years,” said Dr. Cassidy. “Congress should not have to twist President Biden’s arm into caring about the fentanyl and other drugs pouring across the border, but we will.”

“We have a crisis on our southern border. Rather than putting resources in place to address this major national security and humanitarian catastrophe, the Biden administration and congressional Democrats chose instead to spend $45 billion of taxpayer money to hire an army of IRS agents to audit the middle class,” said Senator Scott. “While President Biden continues to drop the ball, I’m introducing legislation to fund border infrastructure and give our Border Patrol agents the tools they need to help stop the unaddressed flows of illicit goods and persons into this country. Americans need more border agents keeping them safe – not thousands more IRS agents looking over their shoulder.”

Cassidy and Scott were joined by U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), James Lankford (R-OK), Steve Daines (R-MT), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), and Mike Rounds (R-SD) in cosponsoring the legislation.

The Securing Our Border Act:

• Funds nonintrusive border inspections to better equip our law enforcement’s capability to track drugs and other illicit contraband before it enters the United States.
• Funds border wall construction and other technologies to bolster tracking and enforcement efforts along the southwestern border.
• Provides retention bonuses for Border Patrol agents to help mitigate morale issues.
• Ends the “Catch and Release” policy established by the Biden administration.

The National Border Patrol Council, which represents approximately 18,000 Border Patrol agents, endorses this legislation.