Schatz ‘gobsmacked’ at GOP turn on border bill

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said he was shocked by the growing Republican opposition to the bipartisan Senate border security bill, announced Sunday after years of Republican pressure for border security legislation. Stated.

“I was just amazed. I’ve never seen anything like this,” Schatz said in an interview Monday. Post to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “They literally asked for a particular policy, got it, and then canceled it.”

The bipartisan deal overhauls the asylum program, funds thousands of new immigration officials, authorizes the president to close the border on an emergency basis, and funds foreign aid priorities overseas. I will provide a.

This comes after months of efforts led by Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) to balance border security priorities with funding for the Biden administration’s foreign policy goals, including aid to Ukraine and Israel. This was achieved through negotiations between the parties.

The deal was supported by President Biden and Senate leaders of both parties, but was quickly scrapped by House Republicans. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) called the deal “dead on arrival,” and Republicans in both chambers are increasingly calling for major amendments or scrapping the deal altogether.

Former President Trump also loudly denounced the deal, arguing that its passage would give Democrats a political victory before the general election in November.

Johnson has proposed pursuing funding for Israel in a standalone bill, rather than in a package with border security measures. But President Biden called the idea a “political game” and said he would veto the standalone bill.