Republican National Committee lambastes VP Harris for visiting Pittsburgh instead of border

The Republican National Committee on Monday reacted to Vice President Kamala Harris’ Pittsburgh visit regarding “Child Tax Credit Awareness Day” and President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan.

“Border facilities are critically overcrowded, but President Biden and his border manager — Vice President Harris — refuse to visit the scene,” Keith Rothfus, the former U.S. House member from Sewickley, said in a roughly 20-minute press call. “Instead, the vice president continues her ‘everywhere but the border’ tour here in Pennsylvania today.”

He was joined by Republican Party of Pennsylvania Vice Chair Bernie Comfort and RNC Director of Regional Communications Chris Walker.

On March 24, Biden announced Harris would lead the administration’s efforts to “deter migration to the southwestern border by working to improve conditions in Central America,” according to the New York Times.

Harris has yet to personally visit the border, which Rothfus said he believes is currently a “humanitarian disaster.”

“The ongoing humanitarian crisis at the border … has given drug cartels the green light to funnel dangerous drugs into Pennsylvania communities,” Rothfus said. “Isn’t the administration’s lack of border policy enriching the cartels and creating even more of a spike in fentanyl shipments — resulting in the deaths of more people?”

During her time in Pittsburgh, Harris held a roundtable on the Biden administration’s infrastructure plan with Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh.

On March 31 in a visit to suburban Pittsburgh, Biden unveiled a $2.3 trillion plan intended to revive the economy through new infrastructure and transportation-related projects around the country. Republicans deemed the price tag too high and the plan has stalled in Congress for months.

Comfort dubbed Biden’s infrastructure plan the “bankruptcy plan” during Monday’s call.

“The American ‘bankruptcy plan’ is proposing trillions and trillions of dollars, and little of it is going to infrastructure spending, which we sorely need in Pennsylvania,” Comfort said.

Rothfus said he believes only “a fraction” of the plan actually involves infrastructure.

“(Biden’s infrastructure plan) is a Trojan horse designed to grow government and fundamentally change the American economy,” Rothfus said.

Overall, Walker said he believes Harris’ visit to Pittsburgh demonstrated the Biden administration’s true priorities.

“We’re seeing the wrong priorities at the wrong time at the expense of American jobs and American taxpayers day-in and day-out in the Joe Biden administration,” Walker said.