Two of the lead negotiators in the Senate on a bipartisan bill that would enact comprehensive immigration reform in exchange for unlocking aid to Ukraine and other international priorities were extremely bullish on the measure’s chances of passage — even as the leading Republican presidential candidate appeared to take credit for efforts to derail it.

What You Need To Know

  • Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy and Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, the two lead Senate negotiators on a bipartisan border security bill, expressed optimism in separate interviews on Sunday about the bill's chance of passage

  • But those comments come one day after former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the GOP nomination, pledged at a rally in Nevada that he would fight the border deal “all the way" and appeared to take credit for efforts to derail it, telling supporters to "please blame it on me" if it fails

  • Last week, President Joe Biden turned up the heat on the negotiations, explaining that the bill would give him the power to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed and vowing that “if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law"

  • House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who wrote in a letter to colleagues last week that the bill would be “dead on arrival” in the GOP-controlled lower chamber, and reiterated his stance in a statement on Saturday

“We do have a bipartisan deal,” Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, the lead Democratic negotiator on the bill, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “We're finishing the text right now.”

“I do feel very positive about [the agreement], because even the initial feedback has been good,” said Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, the top GOP negotiator on the measure, said in a separate interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.

But those comments come one day after former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the GOP nomination, pledged at a rally in Nevada that he would fight the border deal “all the way.”

“As the leader of our party, there is zero chance I will support this horrible, open borders betrayal of America,” Trump said on Saturday. “It’s not going to happen, and I’ll fight it all the way.”

“I notice a lot of the senators, a lot of the senators are trying to say, respectfully, they’re blaming it on me,” Trump continued. “I said ‘that’s OK, please blame it on me.’ Please, because they were getting ready to pass a very bad bill. And I’ll tell you what, a bad bill, I’d rather have no bill than a bad bill.”

Trump has previously slammed the bill as “another Gift to the Radical Left Democrats,” writing in a post on his Truth Social platform last week: “They need it politically, but don't care about our Border.”

Trump’s comments drew condemnation from his main opponent in the Republican presidential primary, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “the last thing he needs to do is tell them to wait to pass a border deal until the election.”

“My message to Republicans is: Do not leave D.C. until you finish the job. We have waited for so long for Congress to do something about the border,” Haley said, later adding: “We can't wait one more day” for a border bill.

Other Republicans have decired efforts to kill the immigration bill, including Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who called efforts to kill the bill "appalling," and North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who called it "immoral" to not address the border.

“I didn’t come here to have the president as a boss or a candidate as a boss. I came here to pass good, solid policy,” Tillis said last week. “It is immoral for me to think you looked the other way because you think this is the linchpin for President Trump to win.”

Trump also heaped praise on House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who wrote in a letter to colleagues last week that the bill would be “dead on arrival” in the GOP-controlled lower chamber, and reiterated his stance in a statement on Saturday. Johnson has previously urged the Senate to take up their hard-line Secure the Border Act, also known as H.R. 2, and implored Biden to use executive action to address border security.

“I think he’s going to prove to be a very good speaker,” Trump said at the Las Vegas rally. “It’s tough when you have a very small majority. Very tough. Mike Johnson, speaker, he just said it’s dead on arrival in the House. Dead on arrival.”

Criticism of the deal was not limited to Trump and Johnson. The State Committee of the Oklahoma Republican Party on Saturday announced it voted to censure Lankford for working with Democrats on the bill.

“Until Senator Lankford ceases from these actions, the Oklahoma Republican Party will cease all support for him,” the censure measure reads.

While Lankford did not address the censure measure explicitly, he took aim at Republican criticism of the border deal in a separate interview on “Fox News Sunday,” noting that they were the ones who wanted to link immigration reform with aid to Israel, Ukraine and other national security priorities in the first place.

“It is interesting, Republicans, four months ago, would not give funding for Ukraine, for Israel and for our southern border because we demanded changes in policy, so we actually locked arms together and said, ‘We’re not going to give money for this. We want a change in law,’” Lankford said. “And now it’s interesting, a few months later, when we’re finally getting to the end, they’re like, ‘Oh, just kidding, I actually don’t want a change in law because of presidential election year.’”

Florida Sen. Rick Scott also weighed in on Sunday, telling Fox News that Lankford is "on a suicide mission" and charging that "Democrats don’t want to secure the border" while blaming the Biden administration for issues at the border.

Last week, President Biden turned up the heat on the negotiations, explaining that the bill would give him the power to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed and vowing that “if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law.”

“For everyone who is demanding tougher border control, this is the way to do it," Biden said in a statement on Friday, challenging: "If you’re serious about the border crisis, pass a bipartisan bill and I will sign it.”

Murphy said that the Senate could possibly take action as soon as this week on the bill, noting he’s “hopeful” enough Republicans in the upper chamber will sign on to the legislation despite Trump’s opposition.

“I think that there are many Republicans in the Senate who are sincere about trying to come together and do our job,” Murphy said on CNN Sunday. “Right now, the president does not have the tools that he needs in order to stop the flow of 10,000 people a day to better manage the asylum system.

“So let's come together and give him those tools, but let's also be cognizant of the fact that, if we don't pass this bill, Ukraine won't get its military funding,” he continued, adding: “The consequence of failure here is not just that we keep immigration as an open issue available for Donald Trump to exploit in the next election, it is also that Ukraine loses this war and that Russia marches its army to the edge of Europe.”

Lankford also urged Trump and other critics to keep an open mind as the details of the bill emerge.

“I'm looking forward to President Trump having the opportunity to be able to read it, like everybody else has,” Lankford said on CBS, noting that “there’s a lot of misinformation out there right now” about the measure.

“We're looking forward to getting the information out,” the Oklahoma Republican said, adding: “There's just a lot of rumors that are out there about the bill, and I want to make sure everyone has a chance to be able to read it before they make a final judgment.”