President Joe Biden on Tuesday urged Congress to pass a bipartisan package of border security measures and asylum restrictions and blamed former President Donald Trump for being behind the effort to tank it on the Senate floor.
Quick Read
- President Biden urges Congress to pass a bipartisan border security and asylum restrictions package, blaming Trump for opposition efforts.
- The Senate faces a crucial procedural vote requiring 60 votes to advance the measure, which also includes aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
- GOP senators express skepticism, with lead negotiator Sen. James Lankford indicating a lack of support for the cloture vote.
- Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso opposes the deal, citing insufficient border security measures.
- House Republican leaders declare the legislation “dead on arrival,” influenced by Trump’s calls to reject the package.
- The deal, negotiated by Lankford, was conditioned on the inclusion of border security measures for approval of aid funding.
- Democrats, like Sen. Brian Schatz, warn that Republicans will be held accountable for border issues if they reject the compromise.
- House Republicans plan to vote on standalone Israel aid, facing opposition from conservatives, criticism from Democrats, and a Biden veto threat.
- House Speaker Johnson emphasizes separate treatment for Israel and Ukraine funding, seeking more details on the Ukraine aid strategy.
The Associated Press has the story:
Biden urges Congress to pass bipartisan border bill: GOP is ‘caving’ to Trump’s demands
Newslooks- WASHINGTON —
President Joe Biden on Tuesday urged Congress to pass a bipartisan package of border security measures and asylum restrictions and blamed former President Donald Trump for being behind the effort to tank it on the Senate floor.
The Senate is expected to take a procedural vote Wednesday that will require 60 votes to advance the measure, which also includes aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. But Republican senators left a closed-door meeting Monday night predicting that the chamber wouldn’t have enough GOP votes to move forward with the bill, even after their chief negotiator signed off on the deal on Sunday.
“I would anticipate Wednesday the cloture vote does not pass,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., the lead GOP negotiator in the border talks, told reporters after the meeting. “People are saying, ‘Hey, I need a lot more time to be able to go through this.'”
On Tuesday, Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso, the third highest-ranking member of his caucus, came out against the deal, saying, “The proposed legislation does not meet most Americans’ standard of securing our border now.”
House Republican leaders said that the legislation is “dead on arrival” in the lower chamber and former President Donald Trump has been urging lawmakers from his party to tank it, saying that it would be a “gift” to Biden and Democrats in an election year.
“I cannot vote for this bill,” said Barrasso, the highest-ranking Senate Republican to endorse Trump for president this cycle. “Americans will turn to the upcoming election to end the border crisis.”
Since the beginning of his administration, Biden has called on Congress to pass legislation to address the nation’s broken immigration system. The deal that Lankford negotiated came after Republicans said they would only agree to pass funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as requested by the administration, if Biden agreed to tougher border security measures.
“I don’t want to predict the demise of the bill, but I will say it was their demand that we included border security, and we did. And it was their demand that James Lankford be the lead negotiator, and we worked with that,” Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, a Democratic leadership member, said in an interview.
Schatz said that if Republicans kill the compromise they insisted on, Democrats will hold them responsible for border problems with the American public ahead of the 2024 election.
“We made a lot of accommodations … because we think this national security supplemental is essential for freedom and democracy across the planet. But one day Donald Trump woke up and decided to kill it and everyone is obeying him,” Schatz said. “So it is going to be very difficult for them to tell their voters why they voted against border security, especially when they’ve been specifically demanding it in this bill.”
Meanwhile, House Republican leaders are planning to hold a vote Tuesday on a standalone Israel aid bill, which will require a two-thirds majority to pass. It faces an uphill climb due to opposition from House conservatives, fierce criticism from Democratic leadership and a veto threat from Biden.
Johnson told reporters that Israel and Ukraine funding should be dealt with “independently and separately,” while giving no indication that Ukraine aid has a path. He said Republicans want more details from the administration on the endgame for Ukraine, but insisted: “That’s not been abandoned.”
