House GOP Rejects Senate Border Deal, Calls It "Dead on Arrival"
House Republican leadership has firmly rejected the immigration bill introduced by the Senate, which aims to decrease crossings along the southern border while providing aid to Israel and Ukraine.
In a joint statement, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Whip Tom Emmer, and Chairwoman Elise Stefanik declared the bill "dead on arrival in the House," posing a significant challenge to the bill's supporters in both parties.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) says he wasn’t offered a briefing on the bipartisan Senate border deal. “I’ve had individual Senators call and give me tips and offered things that are going on in the room, but we have not been a part of that negotiation.” (NBC/Meet the Press)
The Republican leadership outlined their concerns with the bill, stating that it is "riddled with loopholes that grant far too much discretionary authority to Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas," whom Republicans are actively working to impeach as Secretary of Homeland Security.
They further criticized the bill, stating that it "fails in every policy area needed to secure our border" and would actually incentivize more illegal immigration.
Prior to the joint statement, House Speaker Mike Johnson had already criticized the bill on his own, describing it as "even worse than we expected" and stating that it won't come close to ending the border catastrophe that President Biden has created.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) says the former president is “Donald Trump is not calling the shots. I am calling the shots for the House. That’s our responsibility.” (NBC/Meet the Press)
On Sunday, Senate negotiators introduced a bipartisan bill worth $118 billion, which would be the strictest border security bill during the Biden administration if passed.
The bill also includes aid for Ukraine and Israel, with $60 billion allocated for Ukraine and $14 billion for Israel. Additionally, the bill allows for the border to be shut down if there are too many attempted crossings. While the bill makes it more difficult for migrants to obtain asylum in the U.S., it promotes legal work authorizations and short-term family visits. The Senate worked on the bill in an attempt to please both sides of the aisle, offering tighter immigration reform for Republicans and aid for Ukraine for Democrats.
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In response to the Senate bill, GOP leadership emphasized the importance of America's sovereignty and declared that considering the bill in its current form would be a waste of time.
However, the National Border Patrol Council took a different stance and endorsed the border security bill on Monday.
In a statement, the union for border patrol agents acknowledged that while the bill is not perfect, it would codify authorities that agents have not had in the past. The statement noted that the bill is a step in the right direction and is far better than the current status quo.
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