Senators rushed to release a long-awaited bill Sunday that pairs border control policy with wartime aid for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies as part of a long-term effort to pass the package through strong skepticism from Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson. .
The proposal is President Joe Biden’s best shot at providing Ukraine with wartime aid — a major foreign policy goal shared with both the Senate’s top Democrat, Sen. Chuck Schumer, and top Republican, Sen. Mitch McConnell. The Senate was due to hold a key test vote on the legislation this week, but has already run into a wall of opposition from conservatives.
With Congress stalled in approving tens of billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, the United States has blocked shipments of ammunition and missiles to Kiev, leaving Ukrainian soldiers without weapons as they try to repel the Russian invasion.
In an effort to overcome opposition from House Republicans, McConnell insisted last year that border policy changes be included in the national security funding package. The bill would overhaul the asylum system at the border with faster and tougher enforcement, as well as give presidents new powers to immediately expel migrants if authorities are overwhelmed by the number of people seeking asylum.
However, in a changing election year on immigration, Biden and many Democrats have embraced the idea of strict border enforcement, while Donald Trump and his allies have both criticized the proposed measures as insufficient. They also argued that presidents already have enough authority to curb illegal border crossings — a position that would ensure immigration remains a major issue in presidential elections.
Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said in an interview Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he was unaware of the details of the bill, but pointed to a House proposal for tough immigration measures.
“What we’re saying is you have to stem the flow,” Johnson said. He also made it clear that he, and not Trump, will decide whether to submit the bill to the Senate. But in a further sign of Johnson’s resistance to the Senate package, he indicated Saturday that the House will vote on a separate $17.6 billion military aid package for Israel – a move that allows House Republicans to show support for Israel at outside the Senate. Deal.
“I am confident that when our bill passes the Senate and comes to the House, members of the House, including President Johnson, will have had ample opportunity to read, understand the bill and ask questions,” said Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a woman from Arizona. independent who negotiated the border proposal, on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
The border proposal, which has taken months of negotiation, aims to gain control of an asylum system that has been overwhelmed by historic numbers of migrants arriving at the border. The bill proposes an overhaul of the system with stricter and faster enforcement measures. If the number of illegal border crossings exceeded 5,000 per day for an average of five days, a deportation authority would automatically take action so that migrants would be sent back to Mexico without the opportunity to file an asylum claim. If the number reached 4,000, presidential administrations would have the ability to use deportation authority.
Biden, referring to the authority, said he would use it to “close the border” as soon as the bill is signed into law.
The bill would set aside $18.5 billion for immigration enforcement, including hiring thousands of new officers to evaluate asylum claims, as well as hundreds of Border Patrol agents, according to one person briefed on the package who spoke anonymously to discuss the bill. Of that sum, $1.4 billion would go to shelters and services in U.S. cities that have struggled to keep up with the influx of migrants in recent months.
Migrants seeking asylum, which provides protection to people facing persecution in their home countries, would face a tougher and quicker process to assess their claim. The standard of initial interviews, known as credible fear screening, would be raised and many would receive such interviews within days of arriving at the border. Final decisions on their asylum claims would occur within months, rather than the often years-long wait that occurs now.
Among Democrats, the tougher asylum standards have raised concerns, especially from progressive and Hispanic lawmakers. While wings of both parties have been openly critical of the policies under discussion, many have reserved final judgment until they can review the text of the bill, which has been a closely guarded secret in the Capitol.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries suggested in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” that he would be supportive if the issue came to the House.
“It shouldn’t be dead on arrival,” he said. “We need more common sense in Washington, D.C., less conflict and less chaos. We are in a time of divided government. That means we should try to find bipartisan common ground.”
Senators finalized the border proposal on Friday, but other parts of the package, including aid to U.S. allies, investments in defense manufacturing capabilities and humanitarian assistance for people caught up in conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, were still being negotiated by the Senateappropriators.