Arrr! WaPo be givin' the Biden WH a good ol' slap o' three Pinocchios! No more spinnin' tales o' House GOP cuttin' Border Patrol!
2024-01-12
Arr, ye scurvy dog Kessler be swashbucklin' with the Washin'ton Post! He be callin' out the Biden White House for claimin' them House Republicans be votin' to "eliminate 2,000 Border Patrol agents." Avast, me hearties! The truth be buried deep within these treacherous waters!
The Washington Post fact-checked the Biden White House and awarded them three "Pinocchios" for their claims about GOP lawmakers' responsibility for the migrant crisis at the border. The Post's chief fact-checker, Glenn Kessler, criticized White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and deputy press secretary Andrew Bates for repeatedly asserting that House Republicans voted to eliminate 2,000 Border Patrol agents. Kessler clarified that the number was not based on an actual vote on the Homeland Security budget but was rather a White House estimate on the impact of a bill passed by the House in 2023. In reality, the House had passed an appropriations bill that funded an additional 1,795 Border Patrol agents. Kessler explained that the bill in question, the Limit, Save, Grow Act, was vague legislation from House Republicans, and the White House saw it as an opportunity to attack. The White House assumed that a 22 percent reduction in spending across all agencies, including Homeland Security, would be required to achieve the spending target, which led to the estimate of cutting 2,000 Border Patrol agents. Kessler called the administration's narrative a "classic Washington game" of misleadingly citing past votes. The White House doubled down on their claims, but Bates' response was countered by Kessler, who noted that the House Republicans had never voted to cut 2,000 Border Patrol agents but had voted to increase the total by nearly 2,000. Bates accused House Republicans of blocking additional border security funding and proposed legislation to eliminate Border Patrol agents.