As House Republican leaders oppose a rumored border deal in the Senate, Republicans in the upper chamber are fracturing over what to do next.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) affirmed his desire to push for some type of legislation, while carefully avoiding hostility from House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), towards the package.
“It is important to focus on the other reason for the supplement: [we have] Two friends in the middle of a big fight. “Israel and Ukraine need help,” McConnell told reporters Wednesday.
“Hopefully we can resolve this border issue in a way that is satisfactory.”
McConnell also praised Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), the GOP’s top negotiator, who has drawn criticism from Republicans both in the House and at home over the reported deal.
Lankford answered questions from his Senate Republican colleagues behind closed doors early Wednesday, according to McConnell.
Mitch McConnell has expressed his enthusiasm for pushing for some kind of agreement. AP The Oklahoma Republican Party censured James Lankford for his role in the border deal and then disavowed him. AP
Although the text of the bill, negotiated by Lankford, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), has not yet been finalized or made public, a summary seen by The Post last week indicated it. would create authority to automatically reject immigrants attempting to enter the U.S. when crossing levels exceed 5,000 per day.
Former President Donald Trump has called on Republicans to destroy the agreement, calling it a “horrible betrayal of open borders to the United States.”
“It is certainly not a betrayal. We have to be able to address legal issues,” Lankford told CNN when asked about the 45th president’s comments.
Lisa Murkowski criticized her colleagues for not accepting the border agreement. Getty Images for JDRF
“Do you have access to the invoice?” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) asked CNN in response to Trump. “It has not been published. How does he know it’s a betrayal if he hasn’t read it? …I mean, don’t be ignorant.”
But Trump is not the only one expressing dismay.
On Wednesday, Johnson criticized the package in an impassioned speech on the House floor, arguing: “From what we have heard, this so-called deal does not include the transformational policy changes needed to truly stop the border catastrophe.”
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“It’s crazy. Any value greater than zero [crossings] “It is to hand over our border, to hand over our sovereignty and our security.”
The White House has accused Trump of trying to thwart compromise legislation to deprive President Biden of a victory before the Nov. 5 election, as voters give the Democrat poor marks on the border crisis in a series of polls.
Ted Cruz sharply criticized the deal and criticized Senate Republican leaders for not heading on a collision course with their House counterparts. fake images
Some Senate Republicans appear to agree with that assessment.
“It was Republicans, I’ll remind you, who told Democrats months ago that if they want to try to get funding for Ukraine, they’re going to have to address the border issue. This is what we ask for,” Senator Lisa Murkowski. he told a HuffPost reporter. “Let us assume what we ask for.”
“I think the border is a very important issue for Donald Trump,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) complained to CNN last week. “And the fact that he communicates to Republican senators and congressmen that he doesn’t want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame Biden for it is really appalling.”
The Senate’s most conservative Republicans are taking a strong stance against compromise.
“As bad as we think the bill is, I promise you it’s worse,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said last week. “This supplemental bill is a kamikaze plane in a dead-end canyon, headed for a train wreck.”
“James Lankford is smart, hard-working and knows the problem: He’s on a suicide mission,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) told Fox News Digital this week. “If we can’t force Biden to secure the border, we simply have to close it.”
Meanwhile, Murphy has publicly predicted that the deal could come to the Senate floor for a vote next week.
The bill must get at least nine Republican votes to overcome the filibuster. If it passes the upper house, then it must pass the House, an increasingly unlikely proposition unless Democrats and moderate Republicans join forces.
President Biden faces stark voter numbers in polls over border crisis. James Keivom
Meanwhile, the crisis on the southern border continues to break records.
During fiscal year 2023, which ended Sept. 30, more than 2.47 million migrant encounters were recorded along the border with Mexico, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Another 302,034 illegal immigrants were detained in December.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn