Border bill faces uphill battle as GOP resistance grows: Live coverage
Senate negotiators unveiled their long-awaited bipartisan border deal Sunday night and it was met with immediate backlash.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) declared the measure “even worse than we expected” and “dead on arrival” in the House, while conservative Republicans in the Senate slammed the measure and vowed to vote against it.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said the bill would come to the floor for a first procedural vote on Wednesday, and the senators who helped craft it are rushing to defend their work.
Follow along with live updates below.
Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) says he will vote against the border package.
“I will vote no on the National Security Supplemental/Border package,” he wrote on X. “This deal fails to change the state of the border crisis.”
Budd is the 19th Senate Republican to say they will vote against the legislation.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said he texted with former President Trump and spoke to Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) after negotiators released the text of the long-awaited Senate supplemental, which includes the border security agreement that had been the subject of discussions for months.
Johnson said he and Trump “exchanged a text message” and he spoke with Lankford, telling the Oklahoma Republican that the bill is “not worth the House’s consideration.”
“I spoke with him briefly and I told him that this is not personal, I have great respect for Sen. Lankford and he’s a friend, but the product itself is not worth the House’s consideration here and that’s why it’s dead on arrival,” Johnson told reporters in the Capitol.
— Mychael Schnell
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) slammed the Biden administration for issuing a veto threat against the $17.6 billion standalone Israel aid bill the Louisiana Republican unveiled over the weekend, calling it “a betrayal of our great ally and friend Israel in their time of desperate need.”
“Israel’s at war, they’re fighting for their very existence, and the idea that Joe Biden would suggest that he would not send a clean funding measure to assist them is just outrageous,” Johnson told reporters Monday evening. “I think he’s gonna hear quite a bit about that veto threat.”
The rebuke from Johnson came shortly after the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced that President Biden would veto the Israel aid bill should it land on his desk, dubbing the legislation a “cynical political maneuver.”
Johnson announced over the weekend that the House this week would vote on a clean, standalone Israel aid package, a reversal for the GOP conference after it spearheaded a roughly $14.3 billion bill for Israel last year that included an equal amount in cuts to IRS funding. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) declined to consider the measure in the upper chamber, taking aim at the inclusion of offsets.
Johnson is bringing the new Israel aid package to the floor as the Senate gets ready to hold its first procedural vote on a long-awaited national security supplemental which includes aid for Israel, Ukraine, Indo-Pacific allies and border security policy, which has been the subject of negotiations for months.
The OMB said lawmakers should back the Senate’s supplemental over the Israel aid bill.
“The Administration strongly encourages both chambers of the Congress to reject this political ploy and instead quickly send the bipartisan Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act to the President’s desk,” the statement reads.
— Mychael Schnell
The White House on Monday blasted a standalone funding proposal for Israel separate from other national security needs, calling it a “cynical political maneuver” and warning that President Biden would veto the legislation.
The Office of Management and Budget took aim at the $17.6 billion Israel bill that is set for a vote in the House this week, while the Senate is teeing up a vote on a bipartisan bill that includes funding for Israel, Ukraine and border security.
“The Administration spent months working with a bipartisan group of Senators to reach a national security agreement that secures the border and provides support for the people of Ukraine and Israel, while also providing much-needed humanitarian assistance to civilians affected by conflicts around the world,” the White House said in a “Statement of Administration Policy.”
“Instead of working in good faith to address the most pressing national security challenges, this bill is another cynical political maneuver,” the statement continued.
“The security of Israel should be sacred, not a political game. The Administration strongly opposes this ploy which does nothing to secure the border, does nothing to help the people of Ukraine defend themselves against [Russian President Vladimir Putin’s] aggression, fails to support the security of American synagogues, mosques, and vulnerable places of worship, and denies humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, the majority of whom are women and children.”
The White House urged members in both chambers of Congress to vote against the bill and said Biden would veto the measure if it reached his desk.
— Brett Samuels
Here are five things to know about the proposal:
- It doesn’t really ‘shut down’ the border
- It could make a huge difference for some immigrants
- But it would change very little for others
- It would make asylum tougher but faster
- It’s probably doomed
Click here to read more about each of these from The Hill’s Rafael Bernal.
The head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is bashing the Senate’s new border security and foreign aid package, saying it will exacerbate the problems on the southern border rather than fix them.
“There are some good provisions in the bill,” Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.) said in a statement.
“However, there are many more that are not in line with our values, take away due process safeguards in our asylum system, could make matters worse at the Southern Border, and more importantly, fail to include protections and legal pathways for our Dreamers or the greater undocumented community that calls America home.”
Barragán’s disfavor marks the latest complication in the effort by Democratic leaders in the White House and Congress to secure a long sought victory on tougher border security — a major vulnerability for President Biden heading into November’s election — and new funding for Ukraine, Israel and humanitarian relief in Gaza.
— Mike Lillis
Sen. Deb Fischer (Neb.) is the 18th Senate Republican to say they’ll vote against the border deal.
“Americans want Congress to pass legislation that secures the border to keep our nation safe. This bill falls short of that obligation,” she wrote on X. “I cannot vote for a bill that funds the security of other nations while leaving our own border security in jeopardy.”
Former President Trump on Monday railed against the bipartisan border agreement and took aim at Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), a key negotiator, for his role in brokering the deal.
In an interview on “The Dan Bongino Show,” Trump denied endorsing Lankford’s candidacy in 2022 — despite doing so publicly — and did not rule out endorsing a primary opponent when Lankford is next up for reelection in 2028.
“I think this is a very bad bill for his career, especially in Oklahoma,” Trump said about Lankford, when asked whether he would back a primary challenge to the senator.
“I won in Oklahoma,” Trump said. “I know those people. They’re great people. They’re not going to be happy about this. Nobody’s going to be happy about this, but the people in Oklahoma are, these are serious MAGA, these are serious people. They are not going to be happy about this, Dan, when they see this. This is crazy. This is lunacy, this bill.”
— Sarah Fortinsky
President Biden on Monday urged Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to “pay attention to what the Senate is doing” when it comes to a border security bill unveiled by a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the upper chamber.
“My message to Speaker Johnson is pay attention to what the Senate is doing. We got a bipartisan deal, so you’re gonna see the details of it this week, it’s going to be introduced on Wednesday,” Biden told reporters during a stop at a small business in Las Vegas.
Johnson has declared the bill “dead on arrival” in the House, even if it clears the Senate, instead wanting to separate elements of the bill that also includes military aid for Israel.
“We don’t have enough agents. We don’t have enough folks. We don’t have enough judges … We need help. Why won’t they give me the help?” Biden added.
Asked how he expected the legislation to get through the Senate, Biden said, “With 60 votes, and you’re gonna watch,” but opposition to the bill from both Democrats and Republicans makes a path to passage difficult to predict.
— Brett Samuels
Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), a key Senate Republican voice on national security and immigration issues, says that Democrats need to give Republicans a chance to amend the new border security deal or it will fail to muster enough votes to advance.
Graham was an early proponent of linking border security reforms to funding for the war in Ukraine, but now he says the deal produced by Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) after four months of negotiations with Democrats needs to be improved.
“Now that the Senate’s national security supplemental text has been released, I look forward to the amendment process to try to improve the bill,” Graham said in a statement. “Something this significant cannot be rushed and jammed through. It should be subject to a robust debate and amendment process in the Senate.”
Graham warned that if Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) fails to allow an open amendment process, “then the bill will die because of process.”
— Alexander Bolton
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) took another shot at the Senate’s national security supplemental on Monday, arguing that the border security portion of the legislation does not “meet the criterial that’s necessary to solve the problem.”
“I just don’t believe that the Senate bill, as I’ve explained in all of our statements, meets the criteria that’s necessary to solve the problem,” Johnson told reporters in the Capitol. “That is what we are about here. It’s our responsibility to do it, it’s what the American people want, and it’s what we’re gonna continue to work on.”
The remarks came after Johnson Sunday night, hours after Senate negotiators unveiled the bill, said the measure would be “dead on arrival” in the House if the upper chamber clears it.
On Monday, he laid out his criteria for border security legislation.
“I’ve been very clear from the very beginning about the elements that were necessary to solve the border crisis. These are not Republican talking points, this is what we have been told by the experts on the ground,” Johnson said.
“And that includes the sheriff’s there in the counties that are on the border and it includes border patrol agents, officers, longtime veterans of the agency, and they said you have to fix asylum, you have to fix parole, you have to end the catch and release, the mass release of immigrants around the country, illegals around the country, as has been happening. And you have to restore Remain in Mexico. You also need elements of the wall being built,” he added.
— Mychael Schnell
Here are the Senate Republicans who say they’ll vote against the border bill:
Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.)
Mike Braun (Ind.)
Katie Britt (Ala.)
Tom Cotton (Ark.)
Ted Cruz (Texas)
Steve Daines (Mont.)
Bill Hagerty (Tenn.)
Josh Hawley (Mo.)
Ron Johnson (Wis.)
Mike Lee (Utah)
Roger Marshall (Kan.)
Rand Paul (Ky.)
Marco Rubio (Fla.)
Rick Scott (Fla.)
Eric Schmitt (Mo.)
Tommy Tuberville (Ala.)
J.D. Vance (Ohio)
Click here for the complete whip list and check back for updates.
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) is in the middle of a political storm as he tries to pull off the Herculean task of passing the Senate’s bipartisan border package into law amid rising opposition.
Lankford and his fellow Senate negotiators have been taking heavy fire from opponents, largely within Lankford’s own party. But they’ve had limited power to fight off the attacks, with the specific text under wraps until this weekend, and concerns that releasing details could derail negotiations.
Now that the text of the bill is public, the leading GOP figure in talks has a tall task ahead. The Senate is expected to take an initial vote on President Biden’s emergency supplemental request — which contains the border deal, along with aid for Ukraine, Israel and other foreign policy priorities — this week, and Lankford will attempt to corral a majority of the GOP conference and keep the border bill from derailing prematurely.
“It’s impossible to herd all the cats,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).
— Al Weaver
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) will face one of the toughest challenges of his career this week when he tries to muster Senate Republicans to vote for a Ukraine funding and border security package that former President Trump wants to kill.
McConnell’s initial goal, according to Senate GOP colleagues, was to get a border security deal that would have the support of at least half of his conference, which numbers 49 members.
It now appears the defense supplemental spending bill, which includes the border security provisions as well as funding for Ukraine, Israel and Indo-Pacific security, will get less Republican support than that.
Aides are predicting between 12 and 20 Senate GOP votes for the bill, and that the vote total will shift as lawmakers digest the text of the legislation, which was finally made public Sunday evening.
The stakes are high for the 81-year-old Senate Republican leader, as he will come under significant pressure from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and other conservative critics to abandon the bill if it doesn’t look like it will get much more than 10 GOP votes.
— Alexander Bolton
Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), chair of the Senate GOP campaign arm, said Monday he would not support the bipartisan border deal unveiled Sunday night as part of the larger supplemental funding package that also aids Ukraine, Israel and other foreign policy priorities.
“I can’t support a bill that doesn’t secure the border, provides taxpayer funded lawyers to illegal immigrants and gives billions to radical open borders groups. I’m a no,” Daines wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“President Biden should instead use his executive authority to reinstitute the Trump policies he canceled,” Daines continued, listing “Remain in Mexico,” Title 42 and border wall construction.
— Sarah Fortinsky
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) and House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) — the top four Republicans in the House — on Monday said consideration of the bipartisan border deal released Sunday night “is a waste of time.”
In a joint statement they said it is “DEAD on arrival in the House” and encouraged the Senate to reject it.
“Among its many flaws, the bill expands work authorizations for illegal aliens while failing to include critical asylum reforms. Even worse, its language allowing illegals to be ‘released from physical custody’ would effectively endorse the Biden ‘catch and release’ policy,” they wrote.
“The so-called ‘shutdown’ authority in the bill is anything but, riddled with loopholes that grant far too much discretionary authority to Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas – who has proven he will exploit every measure possible, in defiance of the law, to keep the border open,” they added.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to take up the bipartisan deal on the border unveiled by Senate negotiators Sunday night.
Schumer addressed Johnson on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday, pushing the Republican to help address the issue at the border and to not be swayed by the far-right members of his caucus. Johnson already expressed his opposition to the proposed deal Sunday night, saying it was “even worse than what we expected.”
“I say to Speaker Johnson: Don’t let the 30 hard-right people in the House who are extreme — they wanted us to default, they wanted the government not to pay its debts, they wanted … the government to shut down. They’re extremists, and they’re running your show,” Schumer said.
“Do. The right. Thing! You know what the right thing to do is. You know we need to fix our border. You know that it has to be bipartisan,” he added.
— Lauren Sforza
Former President Trump excoriated a bipartisan border security bill put forward by senators, calling it a “Death Wish” for the GOP on Monday, hours after it was released.
“Only a fool, or a Radical Left Democrat, would vote for this horrendous Border Bill, which only gives Shutdown Authority after 5000 Encounters a day, when we already have the right to CLOSE THE BORDER NOW, which must be done,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“This Bill is a great gift to the Democrats, and a Death Wish for The Republican Party. It takes the HORRIBLE JOB the Democrats have done on Immigration and the Border, absolves them, and puts it all squarely on the shoulders of Republicans,” Trump continued. “Don’t be STUPID!!! We need a separate Border and Immigration bill. It should not be tied to foreign aid in any way, shape or form!”
Trump’s opposition further complicates the path forward for the legislation, which was already facing pushback from Republicans in the House.
— Brett Samuels
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) on Monday said he has “serious concerns” about the Senate’s bipartisan border bill that was unveiled on Sunday night.
“Now that I have seen text, I have questions and serious concerns,” Cornyn said in a statement.
Cornyn is widely considered a key vote on the GOP side. He represents a key border state and is a top ally of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
— Al Weaver
The long-awaited bipartisan border agreement met swift opposition from hard-line conservatives and allies of former President Trump within hours of negotiators unveiling the 370-page package.
They decried it as an “amnesty bill” that “erases our borders,” attacked the Ukraine funding that’s included and called it “a complete sell-out,” “awful” and “totally unacceptable.”
“Let me be clear: The Senate Border Bill will NOT receive a vote in the House,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “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.”
Conservative Senate Republicans also slammed the proposal.
“This is an open-borders bill if I’ve ever seen one. The Democrats are celebrating already,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
— Sarah Fortinsky
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), the lead GOP architect of the bipartisan Senate border security deal, pushed back on Republican critics, including Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), for rushing to condemn the legislation.
Lankford during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” also responded to the scathing criticism of the legislation by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who panned the proposal Sunday as the “Border Capitulation Bill” and more bluntly as a “crap-sandwich of a border bill.”
Lankford noted that Lee had previously insisted on giving senators at least three weeks to review the 370-page bill but is expressing opposition after having less than a day to study it.
“He needs three weeks to be able to read it, but he’s already opposed to it. So again, people have to be able to read it and go through it themselves. Don’t just go off of Facebook post somewhere on what the bill says,” Lankford said.
— Alexander Bolton
Senate negotiators on Sunday evening released a long-awaited bipartisan deal to address what they called the “security crisis” at the southern border and to stem the surge of as many as 10,000 migrants a day from countries all over the world.
The ambitious set of reforms included in the deal is designed to give Customs and Border Patrol agents “operational control” of the border by speeding up the adjudication of asylum claims and giving President Biden and future presidents authority to shut down the border if daily crossing average more than 4,000.
The proposal would clamp down on the humanitarian parole of migrants into the country, which critics call “catch and release” and would raise the standard for asylum screenings.
It also includes provisions to address the flow of fentanyl into the country and to give a path to legal status for Afghan nationals who helped the United States during its 20-plus year war against al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Read more about the details of the bill here.
— Alexander Bolton