Frustrations explode at Senate GOP lunch over border deal 

Senate conservatives vented their frustrations with Senate Republican leadership on Tuesday over a new border security deal expected to be debated by the full Senate in the coming weeks, saying a deal with President Biden is ultimately better than doing nothing. He warned that there could be negative consequences.

Republicans, including Sens. Mike Lee (Utah), Ron Johnson (Wisconsin) and Ted Cruz (Texas), complained that important details were kept in the dark. He warned that the deal could hurt Republicans' chances of maintaining their House majority. election in 2024, according to senators who attended the luncheon where the issue was discussed.

The senators said their colleagues became angry during the discussion and nearly yelled at each other.

Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) quipped that “some points of view have come out … at a slightly higher decibel level than normal” about the heated debate over the expected deal on Ukraine funding and border security. .

“I think it's because it's taken so long, but now there's talk that maybe within a day or two they'll bring something to the floor for a vote. I think that's going to cause a real uproar.” Mr. Brown said. “It's a large and complex bill, and we don't have enough time to properly process it.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Tuesday's luncheon exposed deep rifts within the Senate Republican conference.

“The caucus is deeply divided not only on sending more money to Ukraine, but also on border issues,” he said.

Senate Administration Committee Chairman Lee said some Republican senators are “confronting” Senate leadership with plans to rush a deal on Ukraine funding and border security to the floor before the President's Day recess. He said that his dissatisfaction is boiling over because he feels that he is being treated like a “subject.'' .

Lee said at Tuesday's luncheon that senators need at least three weeks to consider the complex bill and a chance to amend it before a final vote, and that unless leaders agree, Republicans will He argued that the bill should be blocked.

“We've been through a lot of situations where you're like, 'Oh, it's not a deal yet, it's not a deal, it's not a deal,' and all of a sudden you're like, 'Oh, there it is.' [a] transaction. 'And then you're given the equivalent of a snap election, like a snap vote, without having a chance to actually read it or make any amendments,'' Lee said.

“And we're going to be told, 'Oh, yeah, that was Schumer's decision.' No, it's not,” he added, referring to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. .

Lee and other conservative Republicans are furious at the secrecy of the talks and alarmed by the details leaking out.

He said nearly the entire chamber, except for the top Republican negotiator, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), was shut out from discussions, forcing him to vote on the bill without fully understanding how the proposal would work. He said that there is a high possibility that it will be done.

“What we don't want is to receive the text of the bill and then be asked to vote on it the next day or the day after that or a very short period of time,” Lee said after the meeting.

He argued that when the Senate took up immigration reform in 2013, the Senate Judiciary Committee spent “several weeks” preparing the bill in public debate, giving senators ample time to understand the details. .

This time, Senate leaders are skipping the committee process entirely.

“By any definition, we're shut out of that word. I don't understand, I really don't understand — I have a lot of respect for James Lankford — but why does this make sense? I literally don't understand… how you can have one person in a meeting with access to everything that's being negotiated, and then everything they're talking about is revealed and the rest of us are shut out,” Lee exclaimed. .

“We know very little, but we are concerned,” he lamented. “There are many things.”

Lee focused on a proposal that would give Biden and future presidents enhanced powers to expel immigrants from the country, starting only if they encounter 5,000 migrants each day.

Other conservative MPs are balking at that element of the new deal.

Paul said he would vote against sending more money to Ukraine, before giving the president the same power that former President Trump had to deport people without going through the asylum process under Section 42. He said allowing 5,000 immigrants into the country is problematic. unacceptable.

“A lot of people feel like if you put in 5,000 people a day before it gets aggressive, you get 1.8 million. [people] One year — that is an unacceptable standard.It will be twice the baseline [former President Obama],” He said.

Mr Johnson said the proposals expected to come out in the Senate negotiations could make the immigration crisis even worse.

“The first thing to do is do no harm,” Johnson said. “If you set a threshold of 5,000 people, the borders will automatically close. How do you do that?”

He said the reforms could “normalize” the flow of 4,000 to 5,000 migrants a day into the country across the southern border.

Johnson warned that “it could be used in court challenges against presidents who are serious about securing our borders,” adding that future lawsuits could require even Republican presidents to go through the asylum process before going through the asylum process. Until the influx of people crossing the border exceeded 4,000 or 5,000 people daily, he expected it could be argued that he did not have the authority to deport immigrants.

“Prove that this is really better than doing nothing,” he said.

Mr. Cruz questioned whether the Senate's border bill could pass the House, warning that it would likely be a political liability for House Republicans fighting to maintain their majority.

One Republican senator at the luncheon said Mr. Cruz's “concern is that we're giving House Republicans a black eye when they don't need one.”

“He wants to make sure that the dialogue with the House of Commons gives us some indication of what impact this will have. [be] We gave them life preservers and we didn't give them cement blocks to sink them with,” the lawmaker said.

Republican senators who share Mr. Cruz's concerns about the political fallout in the House say they fear House Republicans will be in trouble if they are accused of rejecting bills to fund the war in Ukraine and the defense of Israel and Taiwan. I'm worried that I might run into this.

Alternatively, House Republicans could face a backlash from Republican voters if they vote for a border security bill seen as failing to solve the immigration problem or making it worse.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky admitted last week that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) doesn't know what to do with the Ukraine war funding and border security bill passed by the Senate.

Brown said Tuesday that whatever the Senate passes would “override what the House thinks is reasonable.”

“I think it's a difficult dynamic to get input from the Senate that ultimately is politically favorable for the House and for Mr. Johnson's job,” he said, adding that the Speaker of the House was not able to get input from House conservatives. hinted that he was facing threats. Vote to oust him from his job.