On Sunday, lawmakers unveiled a $118 billion package combining border control policies with military aid to Ukraine, Israel and other US allies. However, the package encountered rapid opposition from leading House Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, according to The Toronto Star.
The Senate was expected to hold a pivotal test vote on the bill this week, but hours after the text was published, Johnson declared on social media that it would be “dead on arrival” if it reached the House of Representatives.
As Congress has stalled in approving $60 billion in aid to Ukraine, the US has cut off ammunition and missile deliveries to Kyiv. Senators have been working for months on a carefully negotiated compromise designed to overcome resistance from conservatives fatigued by funding for Ukraine’s struggle. At the same time, Johnson announced Saturday that the House would vote in favour of a separate $17.6 billion military aid package to Israel.
The coming days will be a crucial test of whether congressional leaders can again compel their members to back a package aimed at bolstering US global authority. Lawmakers will also debate the need to overhaul border and immigration laws. President Joe Biden argued at the border that the immigration system had been broken for too long and it was time to fix it.
It will make our country safer, make our border more secure, treat people fairly and humanely while preserving legal immigration, consistent with our values as a nation.
The proposal is expected to overhaul the refugee system, lead to faster and tougher enforcement, and give presidents new powers to immediately expel migrants if authorities are overwhelmed by the number of people seeking asylum.
The new bill is also proposed in order to invest in US defence production, send $14 billion in military aid to Israel, allocate nearly $5 billion to allies in the Asia-Pacific region and provide humanitarian aid to civilians trapped in conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. Minority Leader of the US Senate, Mitch McConnell, stated:
America’s sovereignty is being tested here at home, and our credibility is being tested by emboldened adversaries around the world. The challenges we face will not resolve themselves, nor will our adversaries wait for America to muster the resolve to meet them.
Last year, McConnell insisted on including border policy in the national security funding package. However, in an election year that saw a shift on immigration, Biden and many Democrats supported strict border enforcement. At the same time, Donald Trump and his allies have criticised the proposed measures as insufficient. Republicans argue that presidents already have enough authority to crack down on illegal border crossings.
The bipartisan proposal seeks to gain control of an asylum system that has been overwhelmed by the historic number of migrants arriving at the border.
Oklahoma Senator James Lankford, who negotiated the bill on behalf of Republicans, argued that critics of the Republican Party missed parts of the bill that could have given Republicans a victory on issues they have been campaigning about for years.
Lankford states that the bill secures money for a border wall, expands deportation flights, increases the number of border agents and expedites the deportation process. He also draws attention to “how it clears up a lot of the long-term issues and loopholes that have existed in the asylum law and it gives us an emergency authority that stops the chaos right now on the border.”
If the number of irregular border crossings exceeds 5,000 per day in an average of five days, the expulsion authority will automatically come into force. Consequently, migrants crossing the border illegally will be deported without the possibility to apply for asylum. If the number reaches 4,000, the president’s administration will be allowed to exercise new powers. Biden, citing the authority, stated that he would use it to “shut down the border” as soon as the bill was signed into law.
The measure provides $20 billion for immigration policy, including hiring thousands of new asylum officers and hundreds of border agents, as well as funding for local governments that have faced an influx of migrants.
Immigration advocates have sharply criticised the new asylum restrictions, with some calling for the bill to be rejected in its current form.
A key test vote on the bill is scheduled for Wednesday, Majority Leader of the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, announced.
