his week, U.S. Sen Rick Scott, R-Fla., introduced the “Congressional Review of Agency Legal Settlements Act.”
Pointing to “reports that the Biden administration is considering using U.S. taxpayer dollars to pay settlements of $450,000 per person to illegal aliens separated at the southern border after being caught unlawfully entering the country,” Scott brought out the bill on Monday. The bill “ empowers Congress with necessary oversight to ensure agencies are not skirting the formal rulemaking processes of the Administrative Procedures Act and are not misusing appropriations of federal taxpayer dollars with exorbitant financial awards in legal settlements.”
Scott reeled in U.S. Sens. Mike Braun, R-Ind., Bill Cassidy, R-La., Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., James Lankford, R-Okla., Mike Rounds, R-SD, and Pat Toomey, R-Penn., to co-sponsor the bill.
“Biden’s plan to pay out $450,000 — nearly half a million dollars — to illegal immigrants who broke U.S. laws is ridiculous and must be stopped,” Scott said on Tuesday. “Not even the families of our fallen service members receive this amount of money. Instead of dishing out money to people who have no respect for our laws, Biden should be focused on fixing the problem and securing our border. Instead, he’s giving people an incentive to break our laws. It doesn’t make any sense. That’s why I’m introducing the Congressional Review of Agency Legal Settlements Act today to hold the Biden administration accountable and give Congress the oversight needed to ensure federal agencies can’t recklessly waste American tax dollars. I appreciate the support of Senators Pat Toomey, Bill Cassidy, Mike Rounds, Bill Hagerty, Mike Braun and James Lankford in this effort and urge all of our colleagues to support this good bill.”
“If the Biden administration is going to propose settlements as a way to pay people off, like the $450,000 settlements for illegal border crossers, then the agreements should be subject to congressional disapproval and nullification just like other ill-advised executive actions like vaccine mandates. The American people demand accountability, and the Biden Administration isn’t getting away with quietly trying to give almost half a million dollars to migrants, which will be used by the cartels as a way to incentivize more people to illegally cross our border. Our bill makes sure they—or any other administration—can’t try to hide behind politically motivated legal settlements again in the future without giving people their day in court,” Lankford said.
The bill was sent to the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee this week. So far, there is no companion measure in the U.S. House. The bill is not expected to gain much traction with Democrats controlling both chambers on Capitol Hill.
