GOP Response to Border Deal Reflects Vanishing Ground for Compromise

Republicans in Congress, who for months demanded that any aid to Ukraine be accompanied by a crackdown on migration to the United States, got what they asked for when a bipartisan group of senators released a $118.3 billion deal signed in would provide both.

On Monday, many of them rejected the proposal.

It was the latest indication that the political basis for an agreement on immigration – especially in an election year when it is expected to be a central issue of the presidential campaign – has disappeared.

With former President Donald J. Trump eager to attack President Biden's record on the border and right-wing Republicans in Congress set to rally behind him, compromise was always going to be a gamble. The long-awaited release Sunday night of the text of the 370-page bill only fueled Republican divisions over an issue that once united them.

Even as Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader and champion of Ukraine financing, took the floor to urge action on the bill, many of his fellow Republican leaders strongly opposed it. Speaker Mike Johnson denounced the measure as “even worse than we expected” and repeated what had become his mantra on the deal – that it would be “dead on arrival” in the House of Representatives.

Even more moderate Republican voices such as Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who had encouraged the negotiations, said he had “serious concerns” after the review. (Mr. Cornyn, who is often mentioned as a potential successor to Mr. McConnell as the Republican leader, specifically made the statement to the far-right news channel Breitbart.)

It signaled a bleak outlook for the complicated compromise bill that followed a long-standing pattern on Capitol Hill, where major immigration deals often came close to taking effect but fell apart just before the finish line after Republicans condemned them as too weak.

The first test for the measure will take place on Wednesday, when an initial procedural vote is scheduled. Sixty votes are needed to pass, meaning at least ten Republicans must support it. Even if the bill passes that hurdle and could pass the Senate, there appears to be no path forward in the House of Representatives.

“The $64,000 question now is whether or not senators can drown out the outside noise, people like Donald Trump who want chaos and want to do good for America,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, in a speech for the Senate. floor on Monday afternoon. “I urge senators of goodwill on both sides of the aisle to do the right thing and ease the chaos.”

Mr. Schumer reminded his colleagues that “we live in an era of divided government, and that means both sides must make compromises if we want to pass any law.”

Still, Republicans' withdrawal from the deal also threatened to undermine support on the left, where some Democrats are reluctant to back a bill that pro-immigration groups have condemned as a betrayal of American values ​​and that some conservative groups like the National Border Patrol Council were endorsing.

For Democrats who have pushed for immigration measures that would include legal status for large groups of undocumented immigrants, including so-called Dreamers brought to the United States as children, a vote for a bill that does not contain such provisions and has to become the law is a bitter pill anyway.

Among Republicans, there is even less enthusiasm to find a middle ground at the start of an election year in which Trump is already winning the nominating contests. He has once again made the border a central part of his campaign, encouraging Republicans to oppose anything but the tough policies he implemented as president. And his “America First” approach to foreign policy has also helped undermine Republican Party support for sending aid to Ukraine for its war against Russian aggression.

Senator Steve Daines, Republican of Montana and chairman of the Senate Republican campaign arm, echoed Trump's talking points on Monday, saying flatly that he would vote “no” on the bill.

“I cannot support a bill that fails to secure the border, provides illegal immigrants with taxpayer-funded lawyers and gives billions to radical open borders groups,” he said on social media.

By Monday morning, at least 15 Senate Republicans and three Senate Democrats had made clear they would oppose the bill, raising questions about whether Mr. Schumer and Mr. McConnell would be able to provide the 60 votes needed are for approval.

“Make no mistake, a gauntlet has been thrown down and America must pick it up,” McConnell said Monday afternoon as he sent crucial funding to Ukraine.

But Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, his No. 2 who has also pushed for a bipartisan deal, was noncommittal Monday, suggesting that Republicans, too, might be reluctant to support a measure criticized as too weak if it doesn't can become law. .

“People want a result,” he told reporters. “They want an outcome if we are going to go through this process.”

Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, who was the lead Republican negotiator on the border deal, couldn't mask his frustration with his own party as he tried to explain the final product released after more than three months of daily negotiations. The same Republicans who complained they needed more time to read through the bill, Lankford argued, rushed to denounce it on social media.

“Are we, as Republicans, going to hold press conferences and complain that the border is bad and then deliberately leave it open after the worst month in American history in December?” he said on “Fox & Friends.”

The answer seemed to be a clear yes.

Some progressive senators also said the deal missed its mark.

California Sen. Alex Padilla, who is Hispanic, condemned the bill for providing no relief to Dreamers and making it harder for migrants to obtain asylum. He regretted that no member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus was involved in the negotiations.

“While bipartisanship requires political compromise, it does not compromise our nation's core values,” said Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, the president and CEO of Global Refuge, calling the bill a dereliction of “our legal and moral obligations to people seeking refuge. .”

Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat, said in a statement that he was holding his nose while supporting the bill, largely because the future and fate of Europe were linked.

“The bipartisan agreement can help, but nothing less than comprehensive reforms will truly solve this problem,” he said in a carefully worded statement. In the Senate, he lamented the fact that the measure would not provide relief for Dreamers.

“Without congressional action, they lived in fear of deportation every day,” he said. “They grew up next to our children; Many have gone on to serve our nation.”

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus said Monday evening that funding for Ukraine is not a sufficient reason to support a bill that includes policies inconsistent with the country's values.

“We cannot just throw up our hands and accept bad immigration policies that undermine asylum and delay true bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform for 10 to 15 years for temporary relief,” said Rep. Nanette Barragán of California, the caucus chair . a statement.