'Why would we do anything right now to help him?' GOP rep vows to deny Biden win on border

As the US Senate prepares to hold a vote on bipartisan border security legislation next week, some House Republicans are holding fast to their promise to kill the bill before they even read it.

While speaking to CNN congressional reporter Manu Raju, Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) openly said his refusal to even consider voting for the bill before reading its text was rooted in politics. Nehls said he wanted to prevent President Joe Biden from signing increased border security into law amid flagging approval ratings, and called the bill — whose text won't be posted until this weekend — "hogwash."

"Why would we do anything right now to help him with that 33 percent [approval rating]?" Nehls said. "Do you believe if Joe Biden's approval rate was at 53%, we would even be talking about the border? We wouldn’t be talking about the Southern border. But he has to do something because he's hemorrhaging, he's bleeding [support]."

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"So what he's going to try to do is try to come up with some border security plan, bipartisan through the Senate that is nothing but hogwash," he added.

Nehls' opinion was not shared by fellow Republican Michael McCaul (R-Texas), who urged his colleagues to give the legislation a chance.

"I think we ought to give them a chance to come up with a bill and look at it and then decide," McCaul told Raju.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) has so far obstinately refused to even take up the bill for a vote even if the US Senate passes a bill (which would require 60 votes, meaning some Republicans would have to support it). Former President Trump has reportedly been applying pressure to Republicans in Congress to reject the border bill, and wrote on his Truth Social account that anything short of a "perfect" bill should be rejected. However, delaying a legislative solution to what Republicans are calling a "crisis" for a year out of political concerns could be seen as undercutting their central argument of a crisis at the border that's worsening by the day.

READ MORE: Mitt Romney accuses Trump of delaying border legislation 'because he wants to blame Biden'

Watch video of Nehl's remarks below, or by clicking this link.