Iowa politicians spar on Twitter over whether GOP proposes cutting border agents

As Congress debates whether to raise the debt ceiling or drastically cut spending, President Joe Biden has challenged Republicans to say what they would cut to reduce debt.

While the House GOP has not yet submitted a budget, the House Freedom Caucus, the far right wing of House Republicans, released a proposal that calls for capping discretionary spending at fiscal 2022 levels for a decade, allowing for 1 percent annual growth. The plan also would repeal most of the Inflation Reduction Act and college student loan forgiveness, among other things, to save $3 trillion over 10 years, according to news outlets including NBC News and Washington Examiner.

An overview of the proposal is on the Freedom Caucus’ Facebook page.

The proposed discretionary spending cut triggered the claim we’re checking.

Iowa Sen. Claire Celsi, D-Des Moines, criticized U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Marion, in a March 23 retweet saying “Once again, Hinson leaves out huge chunks of information! The House GOP budget plan chops 2,000 border agents.”

The Fact Checker is checking the second part of that statement about the House GOP budget plan.

Analysis

When we asked Celsi where she got the information about 2,000 Border Patrol agents to be cut under the Republican plan, she pointed to a Fox News article about a March 20 White House press briefing.

In the briefing, the White House called the Freedom Caucus’s plan a “five-alarm fire” and spelled out specific ways the administration believes the proposal would harm the United States.

“The extreme MAGA Republican House Freedom Caucus proposal would eliminate funding for more than 2,000 Customs and Border Protection agents and officers and severely undermine our ability to secure the border and combat drug trafficking — allowing an additional 150,000 pounds of cocaine, nearly 900 pounds of fentanyl, nearly 2,000 pounds of heroin, and more than 17,000 pounds of methamphetamine into our country,” according to a March 20 White House statement.

When The Gazette asked the White House communications team where they got the information leading them to say the GOP proposal would eliminate funding for 2,000 agents and officers, they pointed to a March 19 letter the U.S. Department of Homeland Security sent U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut.

DeLauro had asked Homeland Security to report how cutting spending to fiscal 2022 levels would affect their agency.

“The entire Department and the critical services we provide would be impacted,” Zephranie Buetow, assistant secretary for Legislative Affairs for Homeland Security, wrote.

Buetow said effects would include “a reduction in CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) front line law enforcement staffing levels of up to 2,400 agents and officers.”

The letter goes on to say the cut in staffing would result in unseized drugs, including 254,657 pounds of cocaine, 859 pounds of fentanyl, 1948 pounds of heroin and 17,148 pounds of methamphetamine.

The White House’s claim the Freedom Caucus proposal would “eliminate funding for more than 2,000 Customs and Border Protection agents and officers” is accurate, based on the Homeland Security analysis.

But was Celsi’s statement true? She said the “House GOP budget plan chops 2,000 border agents.”

Conclusion

The Freedom Caucus did not call specifically for cutting Border Patrol agents, according to the summary online. But if Homeland Security is forced to cut 2,400 agents and officers because of the budget proposal, it’s mostly true the proposal would chop jobs.

The bigger problem with Celsi’s tweet is she says the “House GOP budget plan” would cut Border Patrol jobs, when just a subset of Republicans — not including Hinson — are part of the Freedom Caucus. House Republicans still are trying to balance what these far-right members want with the wishes of others in the party, according to a Wednesday story in the New York Times. It’s not accurate to blame all House Republicans for a plan developed by one faction.

Celsi may have been trying to keep her tweet at 280 characters, but with a few more words she could have gotten an A. As it is, she gets a D.

Criteria

The Fact Checker team checks statements made by an Iowa political candidate or officeholder or a national candidate/officeholder about Iowa, or in advocacy ads that appear in our market.

Claims must be independently verifiable. We give statements grades from A to F based on accuracy and context.

If you spot a claim you think needs checking, email us at factchecker@thegazette.com.

Members of the Fact Checker team are Tom Barton, Elijah Decious, Erin Jordan and Vanessa Miller. This Fact Checker was researched and written by Erin Jordan.

Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com