Pence takes aim at Biden over America’s economic woes, says southern border ‘is not secure’

EXCLUSIVE: Former Vice President Mike Pence is taking aim at President Biden over his failure to address the numerous economic issues in America and the crisis at the southern border, which Pence said “is not secure.”

“I often tell people I’ve known Joe Biden for a very long time, and he’s been that wrong for a very long time,” Pence told with Fox News Digital in an interview. “You know, one secretary of defense for Republican and Democrat presidents actually said Joe Biden’s been wrong about every foreign policy decision in the last 40 years. That’s true.”

Nearly three years after departing the West Wing, Pence believes Biden’s presidency has weakened America.

“What we are witnessing in the Biden administration — whether it be the runaway spending, whether it be flatlining defense spending, whether it be a disastrous and appeasing foreign policy, reentering negotiations with Iran, whether it be tax increases, driving a recession and inflation in this economy — one policy after another just seems almost intent on weakening America at home and abroad,” he added. “It’s one of the reasons why we won back the House of Representatives.”

MOVE ON, MAGA: PENCE REBUKES TRUMPY CANDIDATES STUCK ON 2020, PUSHES GOP TO FOCUS ON THE FUTURE

Looking ahead, Pence believes the “American people are going to be prepared to win back America and put our country back on the track” he discusses in his new book “So Help Me God,” which details his time in the White House.

Pence, who is considering a run for the GOP nomination for president in 2024, said he will “always be proud of the record of the Trump-Pence administration” even though “it did not end well.”

Immigration issues were a cornerstone of the Trump administration, and Pence insisted Biden is largely responsible for the border crisis.

“In my travels to the southern border as a private citizen over the last two years, I’ve had Border Patrol agents look me in the eye and tell me that the cartels have operational control of our border,” Pence said. “And it all began the day that Joe Biden was inaugurated as president. He signed an executive order stopping construction of the border wall, but it was worsened on the same day when he rescinded the Remain in Mexico policy that literally had reduced illegal immigration and asylum abuse by 90% under our administration.

“The Democratic Party is the party of open borders, and the deafening message that they sent south of our border was a message the cartels have exploited — taking cash from vulnerable families, taking them on the long and dangerous and often abusive journey north to our border.”

With the “right leadership at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue,” Pence believes America can “secure our border again, reinstituting the policies we had into effect, complete the border wall, complete additional security infrastructure and reestablish the Remain in Mexico policy.”

“What the Trump administration was poised to do for a second term was to fix a broken immigration system once and for all,” he added. “Our vision was to reform immigration in America along the lines of merit that we would look at the needs of our country. … We would look at people that are applying to come here.”

Pence also took aim at Biden for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and noted that former President Trump’s administration “met the moment” and “saved lives.”

‘PENCE SAYS REPUBLICANS ‘HAVE BETTER CHOICES’ THAN TRUMP

“It saddens me that, in the first year of the Biden administration’s management of the COVID pandemic, that we actually lost more Americans than we lost in our first year when we had none of the tools that the Biden administration inherited from us,” Pence said. “I truly do believe that, at the end of the day, history will record that the real heroes of the pandemic were the American people — health care workers, our grocery store workers, the truck drivers, the scientists who stepped in and everyday Americans — who just looked after one another during those challenging days.”

Earlier this week, U.S. officials said the Biden administration is asking Congress for $9.25 billion to fight against COVID-19 as part of a supplemental funding request.

In response to the administration’s financial request, Pence said, “We have got to turn off the gusher of spending in Washington, D.C.”

“One of the things I was most proud of during the COVID pandemic is that everything that we did was bipartisan,” he said. “The relief that we provided for American families, for American businesses, the support for states and health care workers, all passed on a bipartisan basis. … There was over $1 billion in unspent funding the day that we left office, but the Biden administration came into office and immediately passed on a party line vote another trillion and a half dollars in spending that was completely unnecessary and inarguably lit the pilot light on the worst inflation that we’ve seen in 40 years.”

Pence said he is “enthusiastic” about efforts from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who is expected to serve as the next speaker when the new GOP-controlled House convenes in January.

Pence said he hopes McCarthy “will not only be able to stop the runaway spending under the Biden administration, but also, I hope, be able to turn off some of the unspent dollars and take the pressure off of the money supply in the United States and begin us back on a path of reducing inflation that’s working such a hardship on American families.”