A bipartisan group of senators has unveiled a highly anticipated bill that includes border security measures as well as additional funding for Ukraine and Israel, which House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said is “dead on arrival” in the House.
During a Jan. 28 appearance on CNN, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), one of the negotiators, announced that a border deal had been reached.
Nearly a week later, lawmakers finally unveiled the long-awaited text of the bill.
The $118 billion package addresses a wide array of national security expenses, including funding for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, as well as provisions strengthening and funding border security. According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, $60 billion is allocated to Ukraine, $14.1 billion for Israel, and $20 billion to implement the border security measures.
Wrangling over border security comprised the bulk of the negotiators’ time, as Republicans sought to gain stricter concessions on border security and Democrats sought less strict provisions.
Negotiated by Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), the package—if passed—would represent the largest border legislation in decades.
Border Measures
The bill provides a new emergency authority for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to restrict border crossings if an average of 4,000 daily encounters is hit over a one-week span. If this threshold is reached, then the DHS secretary could shut down the border by denying illegal immigrants the ability to apply for asylum.
But if average encounters reach 5,000 a day over a given week, then the DHS secretary is required to shut down the border. The deal also limits the president’s parole authority, a power that gives the president the ability to allow more illegal immigrants into the country.
The deal raises the legal bar for the initial screening of asylum claims. It would also expedite the asylum processing time to six months from many years.
The package also doesn’t include a restoration of former President Donald Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy, which many Republicans have told The Epoch Times is a must-have.
In a statement following the release of the text, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called it “a monumental step towards strengthening America’s national security abroad and along our borders.
“This is one of the most necessary and important pieces of legislation Congress has put forward in years to ensure America’s future prosperity and security,” Mr. Schumer added.
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanie (R-N.Y.), meanwhile, called it “an absolute non-starter” that she said would “further incentivize thousands of illegals to pour in across our borders daily.”
She called for the restoration of Remain in Mexico and other Trump era immigration policies instead.
Mr. Lankford, the key Republican negotiator on the package, has faced scorn and criticism from his party for his role in the deal’s creation.
On Jan. 27, Mr. Lankford was censured by his state GOP, which called the proposal an “open-border deal.”
But in a statement following the release of the text, Mr. Lankford defended the deal he had put together.
“The border security bill will put a huge number of new enforcement tools in the hands of a future administration and push the current Administration to finally stop the illegal flow,” Mr. Lankford said.
“The bill provides funding to build the wall, increase technology at the border, and add more detention beds, more agents, and more deportation flights. The border security bill ends the abuse of parole on our southwest border that has waived in over a million people. It dramatically changes our ambiguous asylum laws by conducting fast screenings at a higher standard of evidence, limited appeals, and fast deportation.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was also enthusiastic in his support.
“The Biden Administration’s refusal to secure the border created an unprecedented crisis, and the urgent humanitarian and security consequences affect every state,“ Mr. McConnell said. ”It is time to force the President to start cleaning up his mess and equip future leaders with a system that works and new emergency tools to restore order.
“I am grateful to Senator Lankford for working tirelessly to ensure that supplemental national security legislation begins with direct and immediate solutions to the crisis at our southern border.”
The bill comes amid the ongoing crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. There have been 785,422 encounters at the southwest border by U.S. Customs and Border Protection just since the start of the 2024 fiscal year, which began in October, according to the agency. It said there were almost 2.48 million encounters the previous fiscal year—an increase of 96,725 from fiscal year 2022. It is unclear how many have evaded officers at the border.
Additionally, the proposal comes as Israel continues to battle Hamas since the terrorist group’s Oct. 7 attack on the Jewish state that included launching rockets from Gaza, which it controls, into Israel, killing more than 1,000 people and taking at least 200 hostages.
Finally, the funding for Ukraine would be crucial as U.S. assistance ran out at the end of last year. The Eastern European country was invaded by Russia almost two years ago. The fighting between the two sides has appeared to be a stalemate following Ukraine’s failed counteroffensive.
Still, the package’s fate is far from certain.
It’s set to come up for a vote in the Senate this week.
But House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said he won’t bring it to the floor in the House.
Instead, Mr. Johnson has proposed a standalone bill that would provide around $17.6 billion in aid to Israel. Other topics like Taiwan, Ukraine, and the border aren’t addressed in that package.
These two competing packages are setting the stage for a showdown between the House and Senate later this month, as both chambers are likely to refuse the other’s proposal.
if average encounters reach 5,000 (illegal Immigrants) a day over a given week, then the DHS secretary is required to shut down the border.
5000 per day x 365 days = 1,825,000 homeless illegal immigrants into the U.S every year. Our U.S. Congress is NOT serious about stopping this illegal immigrant invasion! Plus they want to give more money to Ukraine’s border security than our own U.S. border security.
“According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, $60 billion is allocated to Ukraine, $14.1 billion for Israel, and $20 billion to implement the border security measures.”
This long-awaited solution to the problems is like the long awaiting failing patience of THE PEOPLE for Joe to prove he is capable of creative honest governing. Sooner rather than later the patience of American people for workable solutions will run out, who are infinitely tired of open borders, infinitely tired of malfeasance in government, and outright refusal to enforce our laws, infinitely tired of war and infinite amounts of lost treasure and misuse of protective military assets, will realize it is cheaper in the long run to take up arms like our Founders to protect themselves, and end this quickly, rather than the perpetual U.S. death by a thousand cuts. Joe, and his historical failures that always follow when sane American raised men turn to insane socialism. will prove their Democrat obfuscating problem solutions to be too, too old, and themselves too late smart.,,,Just like our current President is,,, elected under the most curious and questionable circumstances in the history of our country. His failure to properly perform in the power he acquired is answering a lot of those questions that is turning the circumstantial evidence of the past 2020 election fraud into the hard undeniable fact of an election that was an act of corruption, now in open display of the corruption it produced, that borders on the insanity displayed now at our borders, reflecting the same insanity of Joe’s failing diminished mind.
AND that they also put in MORE MONEY FOR EVERY OTHER nation besides our selves, HOW CAN ANYONE WITH A brain say ‘this is all about border control’??
It’s politics ltuser. And politicians’ pocketbooks.
BUT ITS OUR money they are wasting, NOT their own..
Besides all the unverifiable & patently ineligible asylum claim exceptions in the bill that make it impossible to simply refuse entry & turn back any aliens crossing the border, the “emergency” max number will not count unaccompanied minors or adult aliens from non contiguous countries.
There is nothing acceptable in the bill but I must be misunderstanding what non contiguous countries means since it sounds like only Mexican nationals from contiguous Mexico will be counted for the emergency trigger.
If so, then any GOP who would let Dems get away with this type BS should be considered a willing co conspirator in the Dem Party unlawful unconstitutional subversion of the nation via unlimited unvetted mass foreign migration.
Needing workers is more BS. The millions of aliens we see pouring over the border are mainly unskilled, illiterate & non English speaking or are too young / too old to work.
So, what exactly are the millions of jobs that we need them for?
NOt just that, but WHY IS IT they only are considering “unacompanied ADULT MALES” in their “we can deport them” immediately talks? WHY DO those with kids, or single women get a ‘pass’//??
This basically two-party establishment sponsored bill is another Washington compromise example of trying to do the right thing for all the wrong reasons. The obvious, is the glaring truth that ENFORCEMENT has always been the problem, not the current laws that are now in place. Change whatever the wording in the bill for political reason just prior to an election with an administration that refuses to enforce ANY law that gets in their way to getting or keeping power and it is a Kabuki dance done by establishment crippled performers, where act III will just be a bigger staged show of more dead Ukrainian and Israeli soldier freedom fighters, whose lives should not be weighed on democrat finger licking, finger dipping, scale of human immigration injustices.
The obvious answer is to change not the current laws, change not the current wordings, just change out the treasonous enforcement refusing governing party of American faithlessness and political perfidy who are now running the ENFORCEMENT arms designed to protect us from fools, miscreants, lawbreakers, illegal drugs, and pudding headed prevaricating puppets like Biden. Make no mistake, it is either going to be done peaceably in honest elections, or the still living American spirit of justice will step in and do it like our forefathers, who also were deprived of their lives, their liberties, their personal property, their personal safety and their sacred honor.
Right now, i see not a SINGLE BLOODY member of the so-called GOP, in the SENATE, worth keeping..
NOT A SINGLE ONE Of them.
From Texas Conservatives can count on Ted Cruz 100% of the time,,,,John Cornyn when he sides with THE PEOPLE over the establishment which lately is a bit more than the usual 50% of the time we are used to. After 21 years in the Senate you would think he would understand who hired him is more important than who pays him, and how to balance the scales of power so they don’t always tilt in favor of the people or established party in power. He is beginning to bend with the new winds but may snap if he takes too long. Too much loyalty to the Bushes that should be used to elevate Trump,,, the old man of the new breed who didn’t come to the political puppet show with establishment strings still attached.
Once more, because I’ve been saying to everyone who will listen and writing this in comment sections for months now: The Security and Protection of the Border is not a negotiable tool to be used as a prop by any political party to gain passage of their pet projects.
Border Security is non-negotiable for any reason. Period.
It is the Prime Responsibility of every Office Holder in the Government, starting with the President. They swear an Oath to it. Period.
But over the years they have grown so accustomed to ruling their own way for their own interests that they have forgotten that they are elected by Us to do what is in the best interest of Us! To Protect Us from dangers by enemies foreign and domestic, and help Our lives be safer and do what they can to provide Us with opportunities to live better, more fulfilled lives.
To do otherwise is at the very least a failure of their duty to Us, and at its most egregious, a gross dereliction of their sworn duty to Us and to the Country as a whole, and should be treated accordingly, with the harshest penalties that apply to such open contempt to their Oaths of Office.
Period. End of Rant.
“is not a negotiable tool to be used as a prop by any political party to gain passage of their pet projects.”,,,,or passage into the country of their pet criminals.
And as i keep saying, IF A BILL CANNOT PASS on its own merit(s), then it should NOT BE ALLOWED TO get attached to any other bill, especially those that are ‘must pass’ ones.
Hell NO! Accept the House HR-2 border bill or nothing.
The approx 200+ pages I read is clearly just a bunch of malarkey by Dems & RINOS to trick US citizens into thinking they will stop, much less, reverse the illegal mass migration that is bankrupting, balkanizing & destroying our national identity, our sovereignty & our socioeconomic culture by the mass importation of Socialist, Marxist & Islam indoctrinated foreigners.
These Dem & GOP political provocateurs may as well be standing with the millions of Muslims around the world shouting death to America cause that’s what unlimited mass foreign migration will mean w/o a shot being fired.
The bill does nothing to track down or deport the unknown millions illegally here & it continues to provide endless legal protections, appeals & bogus excuses ad nauseum allowing virtually anyone to enter the US without direct supervision for unknown time periods or actual deportation enforcement.
Asylum officers approving asylum claims are under DHS which means rubber stamped approvals by the far left deep state bureaucrats.
Bill requires endless reviews & reports that we know from long experience are useless & unverifiable & again will do nothing to stop illegal migration.
And the Emergency section of bill with all its exclusions is obvious BS.
We should also note that the Biden, aka Obama, admin is now advocating for US to recognize Palestine as a state even tho there is no assurance of a Palestine govt that is not a known Islamist terror org or that will recognize & peacefully accept & live alongside Israel.
US citizens should beware of the current Dem Party which openly sympathizes, finances & supports Islamists, including the so called “innocent citizens”, who overtly state & have brutally acted for decades in efforts to massacre & eliminate Israel, Jews anywhere & anyone who would defend or support them.
These are the type of sub humans that the Dem Party has coddled & financed & now illegally allows unimpeded entry into US cities along with millions of unidentified unvetted & hostile Socialist & Marxist indoctrinated foreign aliens.
Can it be more obvious that the current Dem Party has no regard at all for the lives, safety, security or sovereignty, not only of the US, but its only non Islamic & civilized ally in Mid East, Israel?
Does anyone really want to trust Muslims? So far all Muslims I’ve seen or heard either actively support or refuse to revolt against & renounce the Islam promotion of murder & terrorism to achieve dominance over any area they populate.
Peaceful is as peaceful does & seems to me any large populations of Muslims anywhere have in past & will continue to succumb to & eventually support Islam dominance via terrorism & mass murder.
That part alone, is reason enough to stick this bill in the SHREDDER!!
The headline should read “ The Senate’s amnesty and resumption of the Ukrainian kickback Bill”
I can’t wait to see the Senate roll call showing what GOP senators voted for this mess.
I’m sure will include usual RINOS who defect to the Dems re: Cornyn, Graham, Romney.
I’m very upset that Lankford actually helped Dems write up this garbage bill.
Schumer proudly declares not a single Dem voted for the House HR-2 border bill & he won’t let Senate even debate it. So much for Dem bipartisanship.
IMO, not a single GOP in Congress should vote for the God awful Senate bill, including Lankford who should be ashamed for having any part of it.
Lankford says let’s not do nothing about border. Well that’s exactly what the bill he & Dems have proposed – nothing.
GOP always seem to tell us we have to take what we can get. While Dems use threats, break laws, throw temper tantrums, walk out & enlist mobs of violent protesters to get their way.
If nothing else, the GOP must unite to stop & reverse the mass foreign migration regardless of Dem Party or UN or whatever other entity may object.
If GOP won’t or can’t save our soverignty, our economy, our culture, our language & our national identity then the citizens must unite to take matters in our own hands via mass protests & whatever other means may be necessary.
REMEMBER. The dems idea of “Bipartistanship” is that “REPUBLICANS ALWAYS GIVE INTO WHAT WE WANT, while we never ever ever give them ANY THING”
Here is an idea; enforce the laws already in place (duh).
This whole mess is just a load of bull ****, plain and simple.
Yes, disgustedinoregon. It is plain and simple.
And not just over the border. That goes for all the laws that are already on the books that have been curtailed or ignored in order to make committing a crime legal, thus rendering the public safety moot and undefendable, and is turning criminals into a protected class.
Loot a store out of business, no problem. Rob someone under threat to their lives with knives of guns, if the weapon isn’t used, no harm no fowl. Burn down a neighborhood? Unless your wearing a red hat, it’s just considered simple, peaceful protest…
And so and so on, because we have people who ran for office, and won, that make them responsible to uphold the law who, once they get into office, don’t want to do their job of arraigning and prosecuting arrested miscreants and scofflaws, and instead release them over and over while they brag about the lower crime stats in their city.
We don’t need new laws. Period.
Just uphold the laws that have worked out pretty well for years when applied…until Progressive Liberal Woke Wonks achieved responsibility, but refuse to take a responsable stand for Law and Order.
End of rant.
AND WHY Make new laws, when we ALREADY KNOW DEMS care not about enforcing ones Already existing???? ITS Just a waste of time and paper.
“The bill provides a new emergency authority for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to restrict border crossings if an average of 4,000 daily encounters is hit over a one-week span.”
Who’s doing the counting?
And isn’t DHS on the Open Border team? We have a full blown catastrophe on our hands and they aren’t stopping poo.
I guess 119,970 illegals a month is just fine.
Close the border and then let trump do a mass deportation. The illegals that attacked the cops in New York had cell phones. No illegals should get any public ? And that includes free phones and housing.