Graham suggests he would support House-led aid, border security proposal

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) suggested Sunday he would support the House-led proposal that would include funding for Ukraine, Israel and provisions on the southern border.

“Yes, I’m saying that the House proposal, it depends on how it’s written, makes perfect sense to me. I think you’ll pick up six to eight Republicans who want to help Ukraine, but believed that the bipartisan — bipartisan border bill was not sufficient enough,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” when asked if he would support a bipartisan, House-led proposal on aid and border security.

“Why did I vote no? I want to help ourselves by securing our border. I want to help Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel. The border provisions were — were not adequate,” he said.

The Senate bipartisan bill that passed last week includes $60 billion for Ukraine and $14 billion in security assistance to Israel. It also includes $9 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza, the West Bank and Ukraine, as well as $4.8 billion to deter Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has already rejected the Senate bill. Graham did not support the Senate bill last week but said Sunday he would support a proposal put forward by a bipartisan group of moderate House lawmakers. 

The House-led proposal includes $47 billion for Ukraine, $10 billion for Israel, $5 billion for the Indo-Pacific and $2 billion to support U.S. Central Command operations.

However, it also includes stricter measures to be implemented at the border, including reinstating the “Remain in Mexico” policy for one year. It would also require that the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security suspend entry of inadmissible migrants at the border if they determine that it is necessary to achieve operational control of the border for one year.

Graham said including the “Remain in Mexico” policy is the “No. 1 game changer.”

“Let’s go back to Remain in Mexico as a border security policy. And that was the No. 1 request of the Border Patrol on our visit to Texas … You have to wait in Mexico for your asylum claim, you’re not released in the United States. And secondly, to reinstitute Title 42. Those two things on the border, I think, are simple [and] will work,” he said.

“And they want to slim down the aid package to $60 billion, all lethal aid. And here’s what I told them: I think that’s the winning combination. I suggested making the lethal aid a loan, like President Trump has suggested,” he said, adding that he believes the combination will make it though the House and will pick up votes in the Senate.