AMAC Exclusive – By Shane Harris
In a key procedural vote on Wednesday, Senate Republicans blocked passage of a bill providing more military aid for Ukraine after Democrats at the last minute scuttled talks to include border security measures in the package – knowing full well that their refusal to compromise would doom the legislation. In doing so, congressional Democrats unintentionally revealed that maintaining an open U.S.-Mexico border is even more important to them than defending Ukraine against Russia.
In late October, President Joe Biden sent a supplemental funding request to Congress asking for $105 billion to help Ukraine and Israel in their respective conflicts with Russia and Hamas, as well as some defense funding for Taiwan. Although House Republicans had already passed a standalone bill sending assistance to Israel, Biden threatened to veto it unless Ukraine funding was attached.
While Congress has already allocated about $113 billion to Ukraine, the White House has said that money will run out by the end of December. But many Republicans, particularly in the House, are wary of signing off on additional funding without more robust oversight mechanisms to ensure that the money isn’t being lost to waste and fraud.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has consistently opposed the idea of passing a joint Ukraine-Israel-Taiwan bill at all, preferring to deal with each issue separately. But the Louisiana Republican seemed open to negotiations if an aid package were to include border security measures – a top issue for many Senate Republicans and some vulnerable Democrats as well.
Recognizing the chance for a compromise, Senate Republicans and Democrats launched into discussions late last month over a potential amendment to Biden’s supplemental funding bill that included border security. However, those talks broke down late last week as it became clear hardline Senate Democrats, most prominently Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, were unwilling to budge on even basic changes to border and immigration policy.
While it’s unclear exactly what Senate Republicans are proposing, their border security demands are reportedly similar to the provisions in H.R. 2, which passed the House earlier this year. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has called H.R. 2 a “non-starter,” while Schumer has said that it will never pass the Senate.
As a summary of the bill outlines, H.R. 2 would enact a number of comprehensive changes to U.S. border policy, including restarting construction of the border wall and increasing funding for border patrol to allow the agency to hire more agents and pay existing agents bonuses.
The bill would also restore President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, which required asylum seekers to wait in Mexico rather than the United States while their asylum claims are adjudicated. Biden ended the policy shortly after taking office, effectively allowing anyone to walk into the United States, claim asylum, and then be released into the interior of the country while they wait for their asylum hearing, which could take months or even years.
House Republicans’ bill additionally reigns in executive immigration authorities, which Biden and other Democrat presidents have used to hamper the ability of border patrol to deport illegal crossers.
Border experts say all of these measures and more are urgently needed to stem the flood of illegal border crossings and end abuses of the asylum system. Since Biden took office, there have been more than 8.3 million illegal border crossings. In just one sector of the Arizona border last week, more than 17,000 people crossed into the United States illegally.
However, despite offering no specific criticisms of any Republican proposals, congressional Democrats have universally rejected the addition of GOP border security demands to Biden’s foreign aid bill, with most vaguely citing “human rights concerns” or simply calling the GOP policies “terrible.”
As congressional Republicans were quick to point out, Democrats were in effect denying further funding to Israel and Ukraine out of a desire to perpetuate Biden’s open border policies. “Dems want $106B — GOP wants a closed border. That’s the trade. But clueless Dems want to negotiate the border bill. Not going to happen,” Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) wrote Tuesday on X. “Is an open border more important to Dems than Ukraine and Israel?”
For now, the answer to that question appears to be a resounding “yes” – something that could come back to haunt Democrats in next year’s election.
Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who late last year switched her party affiliation to Independent but continues to caucus and vote with Democrats, has already indicated she may be open to supporting GOP border security measures and rejected the notion that they were “extreme.” Sinema’s seat is up for re-election in 2024 in Arizona, a state that has been among the hardest hit by the border crisis.
Most Democrats, however, are doing their best to portray the situation as “Republican hostage-taking,” suggesting that the GOP is refusing to send money to Israel and Ukraine. But that’s becoming an increasingly difficult sell as pressure mounts on lawmakers from both parties to address the border crisis.
At the very least, both parties have now made clear to the American people where their priorities lie. Republicans have effectively conveyed that they’re done securing the borders of other countries before Congress secures America’s own border. Democrats, meanwhile, have, quite unintentionally, made clear that not only are they unwilling to solve the border crisis, but they are willing to sacrifice their top priorities to perpetuate it.
Shane Harris is a writer and political consultant from Southwest Ohio. You can follow him on Twitter @ShaneHarris513.
