Speaker Johnson Issues Warning: Senate Border Bill Will Not Pass

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told House GOP conference members that a rumored bipartisan Senate deal involving Ukraine aid and southern border policy would be “dead on arrival” in the lower chamber.

Senate negotiators have been working for weeks to nail down a compromise that would give aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, and also address the migrant crisis at the southern border.

Johnson sent a letter to House colleagues on Friday to offer an update “regarding the supplemental and the border, since the Senate appears unable to reach any agreement.”

“If rumors about the contents of the draft proposal are true, it would have been dead on arrival in the House anyway,” Johnson wrote in his letter, Politico reported.

The key negotiators – Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn. – have said they expect to release the text of the bill early next week.

Johnson and other conservative Republicans have frequently warned that they don’t like the rumors they’re hearing about what’s included in the deal.

“I am emphasizing again today that House Republicans will vigorously oppose any new policy proposal from the White House or Senate that would further incentivize illegal aliens to break our laws,” Johnson wrote, Politico reported.

CNN reported Thursday that an aide to House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told a group of Senate Republican chiefs of staff that a bipartisan deal pairing border enforcement measures and Ukraine has zero chance of passing the lower chamber if the bill includes certain specific measures, such as work permits for asylum-seeking migrants and enhanced expulsion authority that would only kick in after migrant border crossings exceed 5,000 people a day as a point of contention.

President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, R-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have worked for months to broker a deal to approve wartime aid for Ukraine.

Former President Donald Trump, the clear front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, seems likely to oppose the agreement, The Associated Press reported. The proposed deal doesn’t go far enough to address the border issues for Trump, The Hill reported.

In a closed-door Republican meeting on Wednesday, McConnell acknowledged the reality of Trump’s opposition, and opened the door to other options, including potentially separating Ukraine and the border.

“We’re still working on it,” McConnell told reporters Thursday, AP reported.