President Joe Biden’s top focus is the economy and anyone who thinks it shouldn’t be, should “say that out loud,” the White House told the Daily Caller after the president told reporters Tuesday that he has “more important things going on” than visiting the border.
“The President was clear that his top priority is investing in the American economy and in American communities, out-competing China, and bringing back American jobs from overseas. In fact, as Daily Caller reported multiple times recently, the economy is the top issue for most Americans. If anyone believes that shouldn’t be the President’s top priority too, they should say that out loud,” Abdullah Hasan, the White House assistant press secretary, said.
Multiple polls conducted before the midterms indicated a majority of voters listed issues relating to the economy as their top concerns.
The southern border has experienced a record-breaking number of roughly 2.3 million migrant encounters in fiscal year 2022, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has seen at least four personnel die by suicide in recent weeks, National Border Patrol Council Vice President At-Large Sergio Moreno revealed to the Daily Caller News Foundation. (RELATED: ‘We Lost Our Purpose’: Border Patrol Sees Surge In Suicides As Morale Plummets)
The Caller also asked the White House if they thought the number of suicides by CBP personnel was normal. The White House did not respond to the inquiry.
NOGALES, AZ – JUNE 21: Men who were caught crossing the U.S. border with Mexico illegally wait in a holding cell on June 21, 2006 at the U.S. Border Patrol processing center in Nogales, Arizona. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
“Of course, the President is also taking action to secure our border and build a fair, orderly, and humane immigration system. He’s secured more funding than all of his predecessors to support the men and women of the Department of Homeland Security, put forward a comprehensive immigration reform proposal, and brought 20 world leaders together to jointly manage the migration challenge impacting the entire Western Hemisphere,” Hasan added.
Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked Biden earlier Tuesday at the White House why he was traveling to Arizona, a border state, with no plans of visiting the border.
“Because there are more important things going on. They’re going to invest billions of dollars in the new enterprise in the state,” Biden responded, referring to TSMC, a Taiwanese company making investments in the manufacturing of chips, which Biden plans to visit on Tuesday.
The last time Biden was near the border was when he drove by it in 2008 as vice president, then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in 2021.
In October, Doocy asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre if the right to abortion was Biden’s top legislative priority, as the president promised to codify Roe v. Wade as his first piece of legislation if Democrats won both the House and Senate in the midterms.
Jean-Pierre said Biden’s Roe legislation was “just showing his commitment to where majority of Americans are.”