Senate Republicans kill deal tying border security to Ukraine aid
Senate Republicans hold a press conference to outline their opposition to the bill Photo courtesy of the office of Senator Rick Scott
Senate Republicans in the US blocked a bill which would have increased border security and provided billions in aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. The bill was the result of a month of bipartisan negotiations which took place after Republicans demanded border policy changes in exchange for approving additional aid to Ukraine.
A group of Republican Senators met today to discuss moving the aid package forward without the changes to immigration policy. CNN is reporting that it is unclear whether there would be enough support to even begin debate on the standalone aid bill.
Weeks before the text of the proposed legislation was even made public, many Republicans started to signal opposition towards the bill. This shift came as former President Donald Trump began railing against the potential deal. On January 18th, he posted on social media that he does not think “we should do a Border Deal, at all, unless we get EVERYTHING needed to shut down the INVASION of Millions & Millions of people.”
Until the end of January, many political analysts believed the bill would garnish the 60 votes required to pass the Senate but potentially fail in the Republican controlled House. Fractures appeared in the Senate GOP caucus when seven Senators held a press conference opposing the bill, which they called a “stinking pile of crap.”
The bill further collapsed when Mitch McConell, leader of the Senate Republicans, advised his caucus in a closed-door meeting to vote against the first step required to bring the bill to a vote. Hours earlier, McConell endorsed the deal on the Senate floor, saying “It's now time for Congress to take action.” The bill, which was defeated in a 49-50 vote, only had the support of four Republicans. Most Senate Republicans said they did not believe it had sufficient border security measures, while the five Senate Democrats who opposed it believed they were too harsh.
The bill would have provided roughly $60 billion in aid to Ukraine, $14 billion in aid to Israel, $4 billion in aid to Taiwan, $2.5 billion to support US operations in the Red Sea, and $10 billion in humanitarian aid for Ukranians and Palestinians. The Biden administration sent the last batch of Congressionally authorized aid to Ukraine in December.
As for immigration, the bill would have dramatically changed current US policy. Most migrants crossing the Southern border are apprehended by US Customs and Border Patrol and released quickly with a future court date. This bill would instead turn these migrants away, forcing a total shutdown of the border when the average number of migrant encounters exceeds 5,000 over a week or 8,500 in a single day. It also empowers the President to shut the border down on their own authority when the average number of migrant encounters exceeds 4,000 over a week. In December, daily migrant encounters often exceeded 10,000. President Biden said that if the bill was passed and he had the authority he would “shut down the border right now and fix it quickly.”
The bill also provided funding to hire more immigration judges and asylum officers to reduce the extreme backlog in US immigration courts. At the same time, it makes receiving asylum more difficult while granting those awaiting an asylum hearing a work visa. Some believe this would help alleviate the growing problem of illegal migrants living in emergency shelters or on the streets, as they have no pathway to gain legal employment while awaiting their hearing.