Senate negotiators on Sunday evening released the long-awaited text of a bipartisan bill that would unlock aid for Ukraine and Israel in exchange for comprehensive immigration reform and border security enhancements.
The Senate is heading for a key test vote on the measure this week, but the Senate Republican conference is split on the measure — to say nothing of the GOP-controlled House, whose leaders have already declared the bill “dead on arrival.”
But Senate leaders sought to underscore the importance of the measure not only to House Republicans, but to members of their own body -- and the American people writ large.
"We have a bill. The $64,000 question now is whether or not Senators can drown out the outside noise, drown out people like Donald Trump who want chaos and do the right thing for America," Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor on Monday. "I urge senators of good will on both sides of the aisle to do the right thing and tune the chaos out. History is going to look over our shoulders and ask if the Senate rose to the occasion. We must, we must act."
"This is a humanitarian and security crisis of historic proportions,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “And Senate Republicans have insisted, not just for months but for years, that this urgent crisis demanded action. It is now time for Congress to take action on supplemental national security legislation that finally meets those challenges head on."
"Make no mistake: the gauntlet has been thrown and America needs to pick it up," the Kentucky Republican added.
The bill, negotiated by Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat, Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, a Republican, and Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent, includes roughly $60 billion in aid for Ukraine as it continues to repel Russia’s invasion, $14 billion for Israel as it continues its fight against Hamas and nearly $5 billion for Indo-Pacific allies, including Taiwan, to counter China’s growing influence in the region.
"It is critical that the United States continue to stand with the coalition we have built of more than 50 countries who are supporting Ukraine as we help them protect their people and succeed on the battlefield," a senior administration official said on a briefing call on Monday. "The European Union stepped up recently, and as President Biden said, we know from history that if dictators are not stopped, they will keep going. If we abandon Ukraine, Putin and dictators around the world would be involved in if Putin invades NATO territory, the cost of America would be much higher, and the consequences far worse.
It also includes $10 billion in humanitarian assistance for Ukraine, Gaza and the West Bank and other areas, and almost $2.5 billion to support U.S. Central Command and expenditures related to recent attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea.
On the border security front, it would implement tougher standards for the asylum system, limits how presidential administrations can utilize parole to let migrants into the country and introduces an expulsion authority if border encounters reach a certain number.
"People deserve a fast answer if they qualify for asylum instead of waiting for years," the official said. "This agreement provides a fair and more efficient process for asylum claims, with consequences to those who do not have a legal basis to remain in the historic increase in asylum officers to facilitate timely decisions."
It also provides more than $20 billion in funding for immigration enforcement, which would allow the hiring of more Border Patrol agents, the addition of immigration judges to evaluate asylum claims and increased fentanyl detection, and would provide a pathway to residency — and eventually citizenship — for the nearly 76,000 Afghan allies who worked with U.S. troops during the war in Afghanistan.
"There are investments in not only asylum officers but asylum judges, making sure there's right to counsel for certain migrants, the most vulnerable asylum seekers such as unaccompanied children ages 13 and younger," the official said. "Making sure that we have additional border patrol agents ... making sure that there's a cutting-edge investment in inspection machines to help detect and stop the flow of fentanyl, making sure that there is funding for cities that are sheltering immigrants who are traveling, whether it's New York, Chicago, Denver, and other cities across the United States."
"This proposal also raises the cap on the number of immigrant visas available annually by adding an additional 250,000 immigrant visas over five years," the official continued. "This also allows individuals who came in as children on their parents skilled labor visas to remain in the United States with their families even after they turned 21. And it makes clear that non-citizens can travel to the United States on a temporary visa to visit family members."
“America’s sovereignty is being tested here at home, and our credibility is being tested by emboldened adversaries around the world,” McConnell said in a statement on Sunday. The challenges we face will not resolve themselves, nor will our adversaries wait for America to muster the resolve to meet them. The Senate must carefully consider the opportunity in front of us and prepare to act.”
While some Republicans were supportive of the bill, including Minority Leader McConnell others expressed outrage and vowed to kill the measure. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., echoed his previous comments Sunday night, calling the bill “dead on arrival” in the GOP-controlled House.
“I’ve seen enough. This bill is even worse than we expected, and won’t come close to ending the border catastrophe the President has created,” Johnson wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday night after the bill was released. “If this bill reaches the House, it will be dead on arrival.”
“Let me be clear: The Senate Border Bill will NOT receive a vote in the House,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., wrote in a post of his own on social media Sunday night.
House GOP leadership doubled down on Monday, with Johnson, Scalise, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., saying that "any consideration of this Senate bill in its current form is a waste of time."
"House Republicans oppose the Senate immigration bill because it fails in every policy area needed to secure our border and would actually incentivize more illegal immigration," they wrote, later adding: "It is DEAD on arrival in the House. We encourage the U.S. Senate to reject it.”
In an interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday, Leader Schumer urged Johnson not to "let the 30 hard-right people in the House who are extreme” dictate their direction, pointing to some House Republicans' brinksmanship over the debt ceiling last year and calls to back away from deals to avert a government shutdown.
“They’re extremists and they are running your show,” Schumer said to Johnson. “Do the right thing. You know what the right thing to do is. You know we need to fix our border. You know that it has to be bipartisan.”
Schumer went on to say that the bill Republicans passed — a hard-line immigration package known as H.R. 2, or the Secure the Border Act, “didn’t get a single Democratic vote in the House.”
“How are you going to get anything done, or do you want to just make a speech?” he asked. “As you admittedly say, the border’s in chaos, do something about it, don't just politically posture.”
When asked about House Republicans' refusal to take up the measure, a senior administration official said that the White House is "taking [Speaker Johnson] at his word that he wanted to talk about border security."
"Recall, more than once, Speaker Johnson, asking, not asking, but really demanding, if you want to talk about Ukraine and Israel, we need to also talk about border security," the official said.
"We have confidence that the Senate will act in a prompt fashion and in a bipartisan fashion to address these issues," they said. "And if his concern is border security? Well, we have a plan, and the plan includes literally over 1,000 new border patrol agents. The plan includes massive investments for border security, tripling the number of asylum officers so that people do get these adjudications in months rather than years. We all agree that there's a fentanyl crisis in this country. Do we want to address it now? Or do we want to simply punt it till later and have more people dying needlessly through that scourge of fentanyl?"
"We're going to continue to work tirelessly," the official added. "And we hope that when this indeed passes the Senate, and we have confidence that it will and we will work hard to ensure that, that the House will see that the American people put them there to solve problems, not to weaponize problems."
Speaking to reporters in Las Vegas, where the president has spent the last couple of days ahead of Tuesday's Nevada primary, President Biden said his message to Speaker Johnson is simple: "Pay attention to what the Senate is doing."
Biden referenced the fact that the first bill he introduced as president was a sweeping measure aimed at reforming immigration and addressing the crisis at the border.
"The first bill I introduced was on the border," he said. "We don’t have enough agents. We don’t have enough folks. We don’t have enough judges. We don’t have enough folks there. We need help. Why won’t they give me the help, all this time?
"And now, they’re starting about the border, 'It’s out of control.' Well, guess what? Everything in that bipartisan bill gives me control, gives us control, and still meets the needs of the people being able to ... legally come across," he continued. "We want to open avenues of legality and shut down the ones that are not coming through the points of entry. So, there’s a lot we can do."
"And, by the way, I’ve asked for money for those machines that detect fentanyl," he later added. "These guys [Republicans in Congress] are screaming about fentanyl."
Biden said that the one thing he was "disappointed" is not in the bill is a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers, the thousands of people brought into the U.S. illegally as children.
"I think it’s about time that ... we have all those young people who came and now, the DREAMers, it’s ridiculous," he said, adding: "They’ve become contributing Americans that are doing good jobs, and they’re decent. It's about time we give them not only compassion, but ... some brains in our head about what to be doing."
When asked how the bill gets through the Senate amid uncertainty about Republican support, Biden replied: "With 60 votes, and you’re going to watch."
Former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, also weighed in on the bill, calling it a “Death Wish for The Republican Party” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“Only a fool, or a Radical Left Democrat, would vote for this horrendous Border Bill,” Trump wrote, adding: “This Bill is a great gift to the Democrats, and a Death Wish for The Republican Party. It takes the HORRIBLE JOB the Democrats have done on Immigration and the Border, absolves them, and puts it all squarely on the shoulders of Republicans.”
“Don’t be STUPID!!! We need a separate Border and Immigration bill. It should not be tied to foreign aid in any way, shape or form!”
In a separate post, Trump called the bill “highly sophisticated trap for Republicans to assume the blame on what the Radical Left Democrats have done to our Border, just in time for our most important EVER Election. Don’t fall for it!!!”
Despite McConnell’s support and the involvement of Lankford in the negotiations, several Senate Republicans expressed outrage over the bill, with at least one calling for a change in leadership of the conference. Some took particular umbrage with Schumer’s comment that he had “never worked more closely with Leader McConnell on any piece of legislation as we did on” the border bill.
“This feels like an elaborate practical joke. But it’s not funny. Not one bit,” Utah Sen. Mike Lee wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “I cannot understand how any Republican would think this was a good idea—or anything other than an unmitigated disaster. WE NEED NEW LEADERSHIP — NOW.”
“This is worse than bad negotiation. It’s betrayal,” Lee wrote in a separate post. “The Senate GOP can still stop it if 41 will stand together.”
“I can’t support a bill that doesn’t secure the border, provides taxpayer funded lawyers to illegal immigrants and gives billions to radical open borders groups,” Montana Sen. Steve Daines, who chairs the Senate Republican campaign arm, wrote on social media. “I’m a no.”
“This bill is worse than advertised,” wrote Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt. "Need 41 Senators to STAND FIRM to prevent this bill from being jammed through.”
“I can understand why Chris Murphy supports [the bill],” wrote Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance. “I cannot imagine why any Republican supports this atrocious proposal.”
“The ‘border deal’ is an easy NO,” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio wrote on social media. “It reads like a parody of an actual border security bill.”
“Two weeks ago, at a Senate press conference, I said this deal was a ‘stinking pile of crap,’” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz wrote on X. "It turns out my assessment was too generous.”
Cruz’s fellow Texas senator, John Cornyn, a member of Senate GOP leadership, said in a brief statement that he has “questions and serious concerns” about the measure.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a pro-business lobbying group that is typically associated with Republicans, applauded the deal.
“The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pleased to see desperately needed border security, asylum, and immigration reforms included in the emergency supplemental funding proposal before the U.S. Senate,” Neil Bradley, the group’s Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer, said in a statement. "The economic disruption and human suffering wrought by our border crisis have become so severe that Congress cannot afford to ignore these problems any longer.”
“We look forward to working with Members of Congress to pass these commonsense measures that will improve America’s security by addressing our southern border and supporting Ukraine and Israel,” Bradley added.
In an interview with Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” on Monday, Lankford sought to defend the bill he helped to craft.
“The key aspect of this, again, is: Are we as Republicans going to have press conferences and complain the border is bad and then intentionally leave it open?” Lankford asked. “Now we’ve got to actually determine are we gonna just complain about things, or are we gonna actually address and to change as many things as we can?”
“It’s amazing to me, if I go back two months ago and say ‘We have the shot under a Democrat president to dramatically increase detention beds, deportation flights, lock down the border, to be able to change the asylum laws, to be able to accelerate the process,’ no one would have believed it,” the Oklahoma Republican continued. “And now no one actually wants to be able to fix it.”
“We have to decide as Republicans, what are we gonna actually do about the border?” Lankford said.
Lankford also addressed one of Lee’s comments where the Utah Republican said “senators should have this bill at least a few weeks … before voting on it,” replying: “He needs three weeks to be able to read it, but he’s already opposed to it. People have to be able to read it and go through it themselves. Don’t just go off of Facebook post somewhere on what the bill says.”
Speaking to ABC News on Monday, Connecticut Sen. Murphy questioned how Republicans, who “believe the border is a crisis,” can oppose a deal “that we negotiated with one of the most conservative Republican Senators on the border issue … James Lankford.”
Murphy also condemned Republicans who are opposing the deal that the agreement addresses their demands from last year that Ukraine aid be linked to immigration reform.
“I watched all of my Republican colleagues in the Senate stand up last fall and say we are not going to support Ukraine aid unless you get a bipartisan deal on the border,” Murphy told ABC News. “We got that bipartisan deal, it gives the president many real, new powers to control the border.”
“Many Senate Republicans are going to oppose this bill because it is too effective, because Donald Trump is telling them no, keep chaos at the border don't solve the problem because that is good politics for us,” Murphy charged. “Well that’s really bad for the country, and I ultimately think there will be enough Senate Republicans of good faith who really want to solve this problem who will support this bill so we can get it to the House of Representatives.”
In response to a social media post from POLITICO which charged that “the politics of the border deal have become severely detached from the policy in it,” Sinema simply replied: “Understatement.”
“Solving our border crisis requires honest collaboration from both parties,” she wrote in a separate post. “For too long, [Arizona] has shouldered the burden of a broken border – and we deserve action. Our bipartisan plan secures the border for the first time in decades. This is a rare opportunity. We should take it.”
Spectrum News' David Mendez contributed to this report.