Senate Finally Releases Draft of Already DOA Package for Border, Israel, and Ukraine
As I wrote on Saturday, the House Republicans got tired of waiting for the Senate to get its act together and release what was thought to be a $106 billion supplemental foreign aid package for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, and to shore up security on the U.S. Southern border.
To that end, Speaker Mike Johnson announced that his conference will be voting on a "clean, standalone" bill with support for Israel next week--but leaving out the onerous part that Democrats didn't like: cutting monies for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
But now that the bill is out, it turns out that it's not the $106 billion boondoggle I wrote about. It's even more bloated than that. Try $118 billion--and only $20 billion of it is to secure our national border:
The 370-page bill came together after months of negotiations led by Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.).
The deal includes provisions to raise standards for asylum screening and to process claims faster, ends the practice known as “catch and release,” and provides a new authority to close the border to most migrants when crossings reach a set threshold.
The full supplemental — which includes funds for the border, Israel and Ukraine aid, and other foreign policy priorities — totals $118 billion, with about $20 billion going to the border component.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a statement:
The Senate’s bipartisan agreement is a monumental step towards strengthening America’s national security abroad and along our borders. This is one of the most necessary and important pieces of legislation Congress has put forward in years to ensure America’s future prosperity and security.
President Joe Biden also released a statement Sunday:
It will make our country safer, make our border more secure, treat people fairly and humanely while preserving legal immigration, consistent with our values as a nation.
It would give me, as President, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed. I urge Congress to come together and swiftly pass this bipartisan agreement. Get it to my desk so I can sign it into law immediately.
At one point in his statement, after continuing the fantasy that this is "bipartisan, and "the toughest and fairest" deal to secure the border, Biden took a jab at Speaker Johnson:
Now we’ve reached an agreement on a bipartisan national security deal that includes the toughest and fairest set of border reforms in decades. I strongly support it.[...]
Now, House Republicans have to decide. Do they want to solve the problem? Or do they want to keep playing politics with the border?
You can read the full statement here.
No comment yet from House leadership after bill's text was released, but Speaker Johnson spoke about the expected bill on "Meet The Press" Sunday morning:
Johnson added that Biden doesn't need Congress to allow him powers to close the border--but he either can't or won't:
There's no mystery how it will be received. Republicans in the conference have been crystal clear "for months" that this bloated monstrosity is DOA (dead on arrival), as Speaker Johnson said:
House Republicans for months have been vocal in support of H.R. 2, their partisan bill that did not get a single Democratic vote in May, and have maintained that it is the starting position for their conference.
Johnson himself has said the bill is as good as “dead on arrival” in the lower chamber, and recently argued that the border can’t be fully secured unless a Republican president is elected in November.
Even Senate Republicans who may end up supporting this thing, like Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), admit it's not going to be taken up by the Upper Chamber anytime soon. He told "Fox News Sunday" earlier this morning:
Well, it’s a process that is the oldest game in town is to bring an important piece of legislation right before a holiday or right before break. So process-wise, we’re not going to deal with this next week, it’s too important.[...]
I’m going to wait and see what the final bill looks like, But on process, there’s no way we’re going to be jammed. We’re not going to take up something this important. Pass it right before a two-week break … on the substance, how will people keep an open mind?
There's also this massive question: Who releases a nearly 400-page bill on a Sunday night, insisting it's going to get a vote within days? Democrats must know this isn't going anywhere in the Senate right now. What a farce.
Update: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) reacted Sunday night on the X platform to the release of the bill's text:
In case anyone can't read the post, it reads:
Let me be clear: The Senate Border Bill will NOT receive a vote in the House.
Here’s what the people pushing this “deal” aren’t telling you: It accepts 5,000 illegal immigrants a day and gives automatic work permits to asylum recipients—a magnet for more illegal immigration.
This site will bring further updates as they become available.
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