January 31, 2024 – Lawmakers often look down on reporters who ask questions about their theories. But Senate conservatives roundly criticized the hypothetical bipartisan border security measure. Even before they see it.
“This could cause as many problems as it solves,” predicted Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.
But some on the right tried to kill the bill long before they knew much about it. They complained, frustrated by the lack of information flowing from the tense negotiations.
“We’re asking questions, but we’re not getting answers,” lamented Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).
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Senator John. Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, said he’s not much of a fortune teller. But Kennedy seemed to know who would take the lead.
“One of the gentlemen who lives on top of a refrigerator box under the interstate knows more about this than I do,” Kennedy said.
Conservatives opposed the border bill – long before much was known about it. But they were particularly hostile to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). They accused McConnell of even facilitating the talks and attributed the motive to McConnell’s conspiracy.
(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
“Sadly, Mitch McConnell’s enemies are conservatives in the Senate and House Republican leadership,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) didn’t channel his inner legislative shaman to divine the content of the Senate bill. But Mr Johnson warned last week that border packages were “dead on arrival”. In his first floor speech as Speaker of the House of Commons, Mr Johnson belted out Adele’s ‘Rumour Has It’ at karaoke as he blasted what he had heard through Parliament about the bill.
Senate conservatives are trying to protect Mr. Johnson. They accused Mr. McConnell and other Republican senators of “waging war” against the speaker and instead working with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D.N.Y.
“Republican leadership is like Charlie Brown to Lucy and football,” Cruz charged. “Over and over again, they run for the football. And again and again. ‘Lucy Schumer’ pulls the football away and the Republican leadership gets on their butts.”
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That’s one way that Republicans’ problems with the bill lie behind it.
Democrats loathed preemptive action to reject the bill – before that. teeth invoice.
“Any attempt to sabotage negotiations before they are concluded must be avoided by members of this body,” Schumer warned.
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) drew the most ire because he is the lead Republican negotiator in the negotiations.
U.S. Sen. James Lankford speaks to reporters as he arrives at the U.S. Capitol to vote on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, via Getty Images)
“I think James is smart. He’s hardworking. He knows the issues,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) said on Fox. “He’s on a suicide mission.”
There’s nothing better than a backhanded compliment instantly turning into a left cross.
That’s why Lankford needed a backup.
“Anyone who thinks James Lankford, who comes from a ruby-colored state and has border expertise, is trying to do something soft is beyond me,” said a bemused Republican. said Senator Thom Tillis.
Mr. Lankford found himself explaining the gossip that the bill could allow up to 5,000 people to illegally immigrate to the United States each day.
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“This is not about allowing 5,000 people a day. That’s the most misunderstood part of this proposal,” Lankford said on Fox. “This bill is focused on getting to zero daily illegal border crossings. There will be no amnesties. We will increase the number of Border Patrol agents. We will increase the number of asylum officers.”
Mr. McConnell has been the most vocal supporter of sending money to Ukraine in Congress. But after seeing Republican opposition to aid to Ukraine last fall, McConnell decided to condition the money destined for Kiev on border security. This began bipartisan consultations that continued throughout the holidays. But McConnell told Republican senators last week that his party was “in trouble” over funding for Ukraine and border fixes. “The politics of this issue have changed,” McConnell declared. This briefly raised questions about the border bill and, for that matter, whether funding to Ukraine was being frozen. But McConnell continued to support border negotiations, even though many conservatives denounced the argument.
You seriously asked Mr. McConnell whether he made a mistake in tying aid to Ukraine to border negotiations.
“I always thought it was going to be a challenge, and it was,” McConnell responded. “But the time has come to move something, hopefully, including a border agreement.”
But Mr. McConnell appeared to pry open the door to potentially cutting international aid from the border project.
“We don’t know how it will ultimately be announced,” McConnell said.
Former President Trump denounced border security efforts as “horrible.” Some Trump supporters have expressed concern that passing the border bill could give President Biden a boost. So they protested against the bill.
Some supporters of Donald Trump have expressed concern that passing the border bill could give President Biden a boost. (Chip Somodevilla, Julia Nickinson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
This upset another group of Republicans.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said, “The idea that someone running for president would say, “Hurt the country, so I can denounce my opponent and help my own politics.” This is a shocking development.”
Asked whether he was following Trump’s orders to vote down the bill, Johnson said that would be “ridiculous.”
Lankford lamented the rapid changes in the political landscape.
“It’s interesting. Four months ago, the Republican Party was not going to give money to Ukraine and Israel,” the Oklahoma Republican said on Fox. “So we grabbed our weapons and said, ‘We’re not going to give you money for this. We want to change the law.'” And the funny thing is, months later, when it finally came to an end, they said, ‘What a joke. is. This is a presidential election year, so we don’t want to change the law.” ”
There’s more – still – There is no legislative text.
One person close to the talks told FOX that the bill would need to be further strengthened as lawmakers need to add a provision potentially responding to the attack that killed a U.S. soldier in northeastern Jordan over the weekend. It can get complicated.
Some Republicans believe Democrats are rushing to strike a border deal before the election.
“I think there are good reasons why President Biden would want to address this here,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R.S.C. “It’s a nightmare for him.”
But other conservatives argued that the border bill was just a sham to make money for Ukraine. That rests on McConnell’s shoulders. And Mr. McConnell faces an internal conservative revolt. Some conservatives have accused McConnell of trying to use former President Trump as a scapegoat if border negotiations stall.
“I think they’re blaming others for poor negotiating tactics to actually get a secure border,” Ron Johnson said.
“Mitch McConnell’s priorities are wrong,” Johnson said on Fox Business, adding: “They’re more concerned about protecting Ukraine and its borders than they are about our country.”
Democrats deplore efforts to use the border, and by extension Ukraine, as a wedge.
“There’s a group in the Republican Party that doesn’t want to solve this problem,” said Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy.
But the border bill has been left on ice.
“We have the outline of the agreement. We’ve had it in place for several days. It’s more than 90 percent written,” Murphy said.
And consider the Murphy quote above taken from. last week.
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However, Sen. John Kennedy opined that the border bill is probably dead. Not on arrival. But in the end it didn’t arrive.
“Our time may be over,” President Kennedy said. “I think we had a vote a month ago. Once we have a vote, we’ll take it. We don’t have to keep negotiating and dithering.”
