Republicans slam Democrats for pushing vote on Puerto Rico statehood, tell left to focus

Republican lawmakers are sounding off about their Democratic counterparts’ priorities as the year – and the left’s majority in the House – draws to a close. 

House Democrats passed a bill giving Puerto Rico the option to become a state or independent country on Thursday, in a historic though largely symbolic move.

The legislation has little chance of passing in the Senate, where at least 10 Republicans would be needed for it to pass, and it likely won’t be taken up in the new House of Representatives where the GOP will be in charge.

A pair of House Republicans sounded off to DailyMail.com about their frustrations with the long-shot bill. 

They urged their colleagues across the aisle to focus on more immediate issues like the budding crisis on the southern border with the little time they have left in the majority.

Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana told DailyMail.com just after voting ‘no’ on Thursday, ‘I’ve supported Puerto Rico- Puerto Rican statehood before.’

‘I’m concerned though, about how this is written – it would allow, for the way the vote would take place, to allow for Puerto Rico to become independent,’ Banks explained.

‘And then the U.S. taxpayer obligation if that would happen.’

He added that there was ‘a lot more’ the Democratic majority should be focused on.

GOP Reps. Jim Banks (left) and Byron Donalds (right) shared concerns about Democrats’ Puerto Rico bill and urged the left’s majority to focus on more immediate issues, like the border crisis

‘Most importantly, the crisis at the border and the repealing of Title 42,’ he said.

Banks called the surging number of migrants trying to cross the border the ‘biggest humanitarian crisis in American history, that [Democrats’] policies are directly responsible for, and they’ve continued to completely ignore it and act like it’s not happening.’

But he said it was a ‘reminder’ for why U.S. voters chose Republicans to take over the House of Representatives next year – to ‘do something about it.’

Meanwhile Florida Rep. Byron Donalds was concerned with how quickly the bill was put together.

‘First of all, have we even deliberated Puerto Rican statehood here? No,’ Donalds said just before entering the House chamber to vote.

‘Once again, Speaker Pelosi just tosses stuff on the floor at the last minute.’ 

He added, ‘There’s been no deliberation…I just think that’s the wrong way to go. Why are we doing this at the 11th hour of the 117th Congress?’

House Democrats are highly unlikely to bring any legislation to the floor that will deal with the border crisis before the expiry of Title 42 next week

The COVID pandemic-era policy’s end is expected to bring a surge of migrants to the southern border

Banks called the surging number of migrants trying to cross the border the ‘biggest humanitarian crisis in American history’

Asked what Democrats should focus on instead, Donalds said: ‘Securing the border.’

A surge of asylum-seekers and other undocumented migrants has overwhelmed border communities like El Paso, Texas. It comes less than a week before the court-ordered end of the Trump-era Title 42 expulsion policy.

The health rule, enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic, allows border agents to turn people away upon contact in the name of slowing the spread of coronavirus.

A federal judge ordered the Biden administration to end it by midnight on December 21.

Earlier this week Axios reported that the Department of Homeland Security is bracing for as many as 14,000 people crossing the border per day after Title 42 is lifted.