Republicans criticize Kamala for going to DMZ instead of southern border where the ‘real crisis’ is

GOP Representative Andy Biggs said on Wednesday he was “appalled” by Vice President Kamala Harris for visiting South Korea’s border with North Korea before visiting the US-Mexico border as record numbers of migrants enter the country .

‘Back to the Border’ [for Harris] in a restaurant in El Paso,” the Arizona congressman joked in an interview with DailyMail.com.

Biggs said he personally invited Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, to visit the southern border with him.

“I actually invited several Democrats – I invited Ms. Jean-Pierre to come back to the border with me because I go down so often.”

“I’m not saying that the Korean peninsula isn’t important, but I would say that our own border is really much more important now. And that’s a real crisis we have,” he added.

‘Back to the Border’ [for Harris] in a restaurant in El Paso,” the Arizona congressman joked in an interview with DailyMail.com

Harris will visit Korea’s Demilitarized Zone, DMZ, on Thursday in a bid to demonstrate Washington’s commitment to the security of the south after the North Korean test fired a ballistic missile into the sea.

Harris has visited the border once since she needed to look at the “root causes” of migration early in the administration — but went to the liberal city of El Paso on the northernmost part of the border in Texas, rather than deeper frontier communities. .

The vice president also visited Guatemala in June 2021, where she met regional leaders, including President Alejandro Giammattei, to discuss creating partnerships to improve conditions in the Northern Triangle to prevent civilians from fleeing to the US.

The vice president was put in charge of the migration crisis from President Biden, but her office quickly labeled the role as addressing the root causes of people fleeing to the US from countries in the Northern Triangle.

Last week, Harris accused Republicans of “playing games” as GOP governors send migrants from the border into liberal cities, while Texas governor Greg Abbott dropped off 50 migrants in front of her residence in Washington, D.C.

“They’re playing games,” Harris told Vice News in an interview last week. “These are political stunts with real people on the run from evil.”

Cuban immigrant Felix Bermudez, 56, stands next to the US-Mexico border fence after traveling with his family in Yuma, Arizona, on September 27, 2022.

Dozens of migrants of Haitian descent remain outside the Movimiento Juventud 2000 shelter, waiting for a place to stay, at the border with Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, September 26, 2022

Biggs’ comments came during an interview after a hearing on waiting times and access to care within the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA), where a number of GOP lawmakers called for “abolition of the VA.”

As veterans testified, the average wait time for a primary care appointment is 31 days, while in private practice it is under 20. The average wait time for sleep medication is 123 days, for PTSD care 34 days, and to see a cardiologist who uses the VA usually waits 48 to 60 days.

“Defund the thing,” said Representative Ralph Norman, RS.C. “It’s a job program for government employees,” added Rep. Barry Moore, R-Al.

“I don’t have 24 hours to stay in the emergency room to get care,” testified Lt. Col. Grant Moody, who is running for Bexar County Commissioner.

“The VA only does about 50,000 surgeries a year, and maybe I really started to think that in January my local hospital is probably 20,000 surgeries a year, so in the end I’m not even convinced that the VA really practices medicine,” said one another witness, Darin Selnick of Concerned Veterans for America.

“Why not abolish the VA, use all the money they spend otherwise, you can go to any system within our communities, and then people get bad care, they can vote with their feet,” suggested Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.

Biggs said he understood his peers’ assessment that the VA may be “too far gone” to be saved, but touted a bill he brought forward to provide every veteran with a “medical HSA voucher-like deal.”

‘If they want to stay in the VA system, they can stay in the VA system. If they want private care, they can go ahead – their choice, choice and competition.”