Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is reportedly withdrawing from a pro-immigration border bill amid a revolt by several Republican senators.
“Mr. McConnell spoke during a closed session of Senate Republicans on Wednesday.”[nesday afternoon] Border politics turned upside down for R.[epublicans]And it casts doubt on linking the border with Ukraine.'' Punchbowl News report early Wednesday evening.
The report adds:
McConnell mentioned [Donald] It referred to Trump as the “candidate” and pointed out that the former president wants to center his 2024 campaign on immigration. And Republican leaders said, “We don't want to do anything that undermines him.”
zahir.com report:
“I think the border part is dead,” one Republican senator said, quoting McConnell to the Republican conference meeting Wednesday. “This has become much more difficult politically than I thought it would be,” McConnell told Republican senators, according to the senator.
Mr. McConnell's replacement is a sign that a group of seven Republican senators used Wednesday's press conference to highlight his focus on defending Ukraine's border, a counterproductive border deal, and negotiations that have left the Republican mainstream in a state of crisis. This happened after he criticized the faction for excluding senators.
“If 41 of us say we're not going to remove Mr. McConnell, then this bill can't move,” said Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah). “I am asking my colleagues to hold on to 41. [votes” to ensure the deal is blocked, he said.
“The problem is our leader, Leader McConnell, is really the stage manager of this negotiation,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).
File/ Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks during a news conference following a closed-door lunch meeting with Senate Republicans at the U.S. Capitol September 6, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
McConnell’s goal is not to protect Americans’ borders — but to protect Ukraine’s borders, said Sen. Eric Schmidt (R-MO. “That’s really what this is about — people know it,” he said, before suggesting the Senate hold separate votes on Ukraine funding and border reforms.
McConnell’s border bill will be blocked by the House GOP leaders, so Democrats are using the doomed process to blame the GOP for President Joe Biden’s unpopular migration disaster, said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX):
For Democrats, the only purpose of taking this up is giving Democrats political cover [in the 2024 campaign] “Oh my god, we were going to secure the border and those pesky House Republicans wouldn’t let us do it.
“This bill represents the Senate Republican leadership waging war against the House Republican leadership,” Cruz added. “It's not designed to protect borders, and it can't protect borders. That's why our leaders want to keep it secret.”
McConnell's focus on Ukraine has excluded Republican senators concerned about the border, senators said.
“Without consulting, [GOP Senators]took away most of our influence by saying we wouldn't even require that Ukrainian funds be tied to actual security. [U.S.] It’s the border,” Johnson said.
“We all should have the opportunity to participate” in drafting the bill, said Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida), adding:
I spoke at [a GOP private] meeting. WWE said he wants Biden to do something because we know Biden is an outlaw. The only thing we could come up with was to release monthly aid to Ukraine if the number of people coming across the border decreased. Leader McConnell said that was not the case.
The senators said the bill would not block Biden from relocating.
“What I'm hearing is [is that]]This could cause as many problems as it solves, and it also risks creating even bigger problems that aren't currently occurring,” Lee said.
“This bill would normalize the entry of 5,000 people a day,” Cruz said. “5,000 people a day means more than 1.8 million people a year. This is called an invasion.”
“Why would we set the threshold to 1,000? [migrants a day] Instead of 4,000 or 5,000? ” said Johnson.
Johnson described how Republican senators questioned McConnell's chief negotiator, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), about the bill during their weekly meetings.
When Senator Lankford was asked, “What is the purpose of this?” the answer was not to protect the border, but simply to protect the border. [to] “Give the next president the tools he needs to secure our borders.” Well, that wasn't what we expected. That is certainly not what the people expect.
“The great Republican compromise is, 'We're for Joe Biden's two-thirds open border, let in 6 million people instead of 9 million,'” Cruz scoffed.
“this [legislation] It just doesn’t make any sense,” Cruz said. “There's a reason the Republican leadership is like Charlie Brown to Lucy and football. Time and time again they run for football, and time and time again they run for Lucy. Schumer will pull the football and the Republican leadership will get their ass kicked.”
McConnell before Republican senators' press conference talked He spoke for nearly eight minutes on the Senate floor about the draft bill.
“Long before the Russian military launched its first military action against Kiev in February 2022, I have been calling for the decisive capabilities Ukraine needs to defend itself,” he said in an 8-minute interview. In his speech, he concluded by saying: US borders:
The Senate will soon have that opportunity. [bolster] To secure sovereignty over its southern border, invest in strategic competition with China, and rebuild trust in the eyes of its adversaries.
Republican senators say McConnell is hiding the text of the bill to prevent Republican opposition.
“They said they couldn't see the text because it was so complex that changing one word here would affect everything else,” Schmidt said. “But we still have a day or two, or maybe three weeks.” [time to study the bill — this is nuts.”
Congressional leaders spring short-notice giant bills of Senators to overwhelm opposition, said Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN), adding:
The last [omnibus bill] Thrown into our laps over a year ago… [with] 4,100 pages as of 1:40 a.m. It took me two days to consider it.I need time to sort this out. [border bill] Too.
Republican senators said Democrats don't want negotiations on the border.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) said he “doesn't share the same goals” as Democrats. “Their goal is to get as many people as possible across the border legally. They don't care how to cross the border… illegally.”
“This is a lawless administration that doesn't care about border security at all,” Schmidt said. “It's not in their DNA, so some kind of language is not going to create a Jesus moment for Joe Biden. This is who he is. This is what this administration is all about.”
“I actually think Mitch knows exactly what he's doing. He's just negotiating for the same purpose as Chuck Schumer,” Cruz said, adding: added.
They both want a bill that funds Ukraine, but they pretend to have border security, but they don't actually have border security. They are negotiating for the same outcome. [Sen.] Chuck Schumer's enemies in Congress are conservatives in the Senate and the Republican leadership in the House. And sadly, Mitch McConnell's enemies are conservatives in the Senate and House Republican leadership.
Other Republican senators have also criticized McConnell's direction on border negotiations.
“As we speak, half of my Republican caucus is ready to sell out, and they are ready to sell out fake border reform in exchange for what they really want. Please donate more tax dollars to Ukraine,” said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky). Said Tucker Carlson on January 23rd.
