by Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader, said Thursday he would hold a test vote next week on a measure that combines an immigration crackdown with tens of billions of dollars in military assistance to Ukraine. and Israel, but the package faces a difficult road with Republican resistance in both chambers.
Schumer’s pledge came as a small group of Republican and Democratic senators rushed to finalize a plan to curb migration across the U.S. border with Mexico, which Republicans had demanded be accompanied by any additional aid to Kiev. for their war against Russian aggression.
Senate leaders from both parties have called the emerging border agreement the best opportunity in decades to address the difficult issue of immigration, and President Biden has endorsed it. But right-wing Republicans, encouraged by former President Donald J. Trump, have denounced him as too weak, prompting Speaker Mike Johnson to declare him dead upon arrival in the House and indicate that he may have no path through Congress.
And since negotiators have not yet released the text of their deal, it is still unclear whether Senate Republicans will accept or reject it. Schumer said the finished product would be public “no later than Sunday,” to give senators enough time to review it before an initial vote scheduled for Wednesday.
“We are getting very close,” Schumer said on the Senate floor, arguing that the next bill would be a vital tool to “allow us to address multiple crises around the world.”
“Addressing these challenges is not easy, but we cannot simply shirk our responsibilities just because a task is difficult,” he added.
The agreement would make it more difficult for migrants to be granted asylum in the United States, increase detention capacity, intensify deportations of people seeking to enter the country without authorization and close the border between the United States and Mexico to new entries if they cross them. exceed a certain level.
It would be part of a package with an injection of funds to Ukraine and Israel for their war in Gaza, as well as humanitarian assistance for Palestinians under bombardment and resources to help counter Chinese influence and threats in the Indo-Pacific region.
In recent weeks, top House Republicans and many rank-and-file GOP senators have denounced the compromise, arguing that it is not strict enough to make a measurable difference at border crossings, and insisting that it cannot be relied upon. the Biden administration does so. fully implement the proposed measures.
Last week, Biden urged Congress to approve the agreement and promised to use it to “close the border.” Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, criticized the president for those words in a speech this week on the House floor, arguing that he already had the power to close the border to most new arrivals.
“He falsely claimed that he needs Congress to pass a new law that would allow him to close the southern border; “He knows that’s not true,” Johnson said, adding: “This so-called agreement does not include these transformative political changes that are necessary to truly stop the border catastrophe.”
The planned Senate vote on the border deal could coincide with House GOP plans to impeach Biden’s homeland security secretary, Alejandro N. Mayorkas, as soon as next week, accused of refusing to enforce border laws and violating the public trust. The Biden administration and several prominent constitutional law experts, including conservativesThey have argued that the case is a political dispute that does not rise to the level of an impeachable crime or misdemeanor.
Senate Republican leaders and those close to the negotiations have been trying to persuade skeptics not to listen to critics until they see the text of the deal for themselves. But the longer it takes to close a deal, the more worried they are about losing ground.
“If we don’t get this out there and build momentum, as I said before, the hill will continue to rise,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, told reporters Thursday.
Resistance in the House and from Trump, who is the favorite for the Republican presidential nomination, is proving to be a major obstacle. Last week, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the minority leader, warned that Trump’s hostility to the deal had put Republicans “in a dilemma.”
On Thursday, asked whether his colleagues would be able to overcome Trump’s opposition and accept the deal, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 2 Republican, said, “I can’t answer that yet.”
Democrats said time was running out to reach a compromise and noted that Republicans, who demanded a border deal in the first place, were now threatening to stand in the way of the legislation.
“They are making a decision about whether they want to do what they said they wanted – pass a bipartisan border bill – or whether they want to do Donald Trump’s bidding,” said Sen. Christopher S. Murphy of Connecticut, the leading Democrats in border talks. “Every day that passes that they don’t commit to funding the deal is a day that we are closer to them making a decision in favor of Donald Trump.”
