Speaker: Border deal might be ‘dead on arrival’ in House
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson took a strong stand Friday against a bipartisan Senate deal to pair border enforcement measures with Ukraine aid, sending a letter to colleagues that aligns him with hard-line conservatives determined to sink the compromise on border and immigration policy.
Johnson, r-la.,said that the legislation would have been “dead on arrival in the house” if leaked reports about the legislation were true.
While the core group of senators negotiating the deal have not yet released the text of the bill, it has nevertheless come under fire from Republicans, including Donald Trump, the likely presidential nominee, who eviscerated the deal this week as a political “gift” to Democrats.
Johnson in the letter said, “Rather than accept accountability, President Biden is now trying to blame Congress for what HE himself intentionally created.”
The message added to the headwinds facing the border and Ukraine deal, closing a week in which Senate Republican leader Mitch Mcconnell acknowledged to his colleagues that the legislation faced tough opposition from Trump that could force them to pursue Ukraine aid another way. He later clarified that he was still supportive of pairing border measures with Ukraine aid — an arrangement that Senate Republicans initially demanded to gain their votes for funding Ukraine’s war.
The diminishing prospects for a deal leave congressional leaders with no clear path to approving a $110 billion White House request for emergency funding for Ukraine, Israel, immigration enforcement and other national security needs. President Joe Biden has made it a top priority to bolster Kyiv’s defense against Russia, but his administration has run out of money to send ammunition and missiles. Ukraine supporters warn that the impasse in Congress is already being felt on battlefields and leaving Ukrainian soldiers outgunned.
Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, the lead GOP negotiator in the border talks, has repeatedly urged lawmakers to refrain from passing final judgment on the bill until they receive legislative text and said some of the reports of its contents in conservative media are not accurate depictions of the bill. Negotiators were hoping to release the text next week, but have struggled to finalize the package.
As they enter an election year, Republicans are seeking to drive home the fact that historic numbers of migrants have come to the U.S. during Biden’s presidency. His administration has countered that global unrest is driving the migration and has sought to implement humane policies on border enforcement.
“They have to choose whether they want to solve a problem, actually solve a problem like the Senate is trying to do in a bipartisan way,” said White House press secretary Karine Jeanpierre, of House Republicans. “Or, you know, get in the way and score political points.”
Leaning into the push on immigration, the speaker said in his letter that the House would hold a vote on impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “as soon as possible” and that he was standing with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has refused to give federal Border Patrol agents access to a riverfront park that is a popular corridor for migrants illegally entering the U.S.
But the speaker is also under potential pressure himself.
If the Senate were to pass an immigration and Ukraine package, he would face a decision about whether to bring the measure to the floor.
At the same time, hardline House conservatives have become vocal opponents of any compromise on immigration policy.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-GA., has threatened to initiate an effort to oust Johnson if he put the Senate deal on the House floor.
Still, other Republicans have lamented that conservatives are throwing away an opportunity to gain a victory on an issue they have talked about far more than Democrats.