Troubles grow for bipartisan border bill amid Senate GOP opposition

A bipartisan border bill is facing increasing challenges as Republicans seek more time to review the bill and more lawmakers have made it clear they have no intention of allowing it to move forward in its current form. It seems so.

Senate Republicans met Monday to discuss the draft, with nearly all of them calling for more time to consider the border portion submitted by negotiators the day before.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York on Wednesday announced plans to hold the first procedural vote on President Biden’s $118 billion emergency supplement on Wednesday, but Republicans appear ready to scrap that plan. is.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has advised members to vote against moving forward with the bill if it is voted on Wednesday, a Senate source said. did.

“For now it is [a] I’m working on it. I’m not going to have a funeral with that. Obviously, the funeral has already taken place on the House side,” Sen. James Lankford (Oklahoma), the lead Republican negotiator, told reporters after the 90-minute meeting.

Lankford added that he agrees with the plan not to advance the bill Wednesday.

“If anyone thinks this is a finished product, no, it’s not.” [the case]. “No matter what happens to this, this still needs to go through a correction process,” he said.

As of Monday night, at least 19 Senate Republicans had expressed opposition to the bill, including several key figures close to Republican leadership. Sens. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska), and Katie Britt (R-Ala.) all announced their intention to vote against the current bill. .

In addition to the turmoil between Mr. Lankford and his negotiators, there are signs that further problems may lie ahead among key members. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Monday he had “grave concerns” about the blueprint.

The Texas Republican is widely considered a key vote on the Republican side, as he is a powerful representative of the border state and a powerful ally of Mr. McConnell.

Another key figure, Sen. Lindsey Graham (RS.C.), added that he expected a “robust” amendment process to improve the bill, or else the proposal would die. added.

Two Senate Democrats, Bob Menendez (New Jersey) and Alex Padilla (California), also oppose the current bill, bringing the total number of opponents to more than 20. It takes 41 senators to block the bill.

The package would greenlight aid for Ukraine, Israel, the Indo-Pacific and humanitarian purposes. Lankford said Senate Republicans did not discuss breaking up these items and passing them separately.

For Mr. Lankford, frustration is already beginning to settle as Republican opposition mounts after months of arduous negotiations.

The Oklahoma Republican said during a conversation with reporters. reprimanded Members who voiced their opposition to the bill immediately after it was announced. He previously said lawmakers would need weeks to consider the 370-page bill and criticized Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who quickly voiced opposition.

Any potential changes to the bill will need to be made with the House of Commons in mind.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) has repeatedly declared that if passed by the Senate, the bill would die as soon as it reaches the House.

Lankford and Sinema acknowledged that the main difficulty in selling the bill was the widely repeated insistence that 5,000 immigrants be allowed into the country before the border closes. Both men claim that this idea is wrong.

According to the bill, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would have the authority to close the border if the number of migrant encounters reaches an average of 4,000 people a day. The ministry will be required to close the border to all migrants without reservations if the daily average reaches 5,000. At that point, the border will remain closed until DHS is able to process all migrants.

Asylum seekers who entered the country before the powers were triggered would be subject to a stricter vetting process, and the measure would end the practice critics call “catch-and-release.”

For negotiators, trying to explain has become a headache.

“That’s what people are most interested in, ‘Why 5,000?'” Why three years? ’ All the different aspects of it, the complexity of how to actually make it work, is a headache for everyone,” Lankford said.

House Republicans argue that Congress does not need to pass a border bill and that President Biden can act unilaterally. They are also pushing to pass HR2, the border package that House Republicans passed last year without any Democratic votes.

Lankford said he hasn’t spoken much with the chairman in recent days, except for a brief text exchange Sunday night. Sinema said he has offered to explain the package to Johnson, but he has not yet accepted it at this time.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday that he had been shut out of the process.

“I said I wish I had been in the room. I think it would be nice if we had a say in what that product ended up being. If the House had its way, “They could have resolved this mess at the pass and would have navigated the process better, but what they’re putting forward for us now isn’t actually a border security bill,” he said. Told. reporters.

Supporters of the bill also note issues of timing.

The Senate is scheduled to go into a two-week recess this weekend, but Schumer has indicated he will keep lawmakers in Washington to work on additional legislation. Additionally, two government funding bills must be passed by March 1 and March 8, giving lawmakers limited time to address border issues before turning their attention to keeping the government’s lights on. There is.