McConnell’s Remarks Prompt Worries About Border Agreement

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s, R-Ky., comments during a meeting for members of the GOP this week have some in the Senate questioning whether Republicans and Democrats can reach an agreement on the border.

McConnell reportedly said during a closed-door GOP meeting on Wednesday that the political situation surrounding the border has changed in part due to former President Donald Trump, the current front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, making the border one of his key campaign issues.

CBS News reports that some of McConnell’s colleagues interpreted this as a sign that talks on a bipartisan immigration deal, which is still being negotiated by Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., will stall.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., in remarks to reporters at the Capitol on Thursday, said Republicans are “going to make a decision in the next 24 hours as to whether they actually want to get something done, or whether they want to leave the border a mess for political reasons.”

He added, “I think what is very scary to some Republicans is that the deal we have reached will actually fix a big part of the problem. And I know for Donald Trump and some Republicans, it’s not in their best interest for there to be policy changes that actually fix the broken asylum system, or give the president new tools to better manage the border.

“And so, as Republicans have seen the deal, some of them are worried that it actually will fix the problem.”

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, pushed back on those notions, telling reporters that McConnell “made it crystal clear that he’s supportive of the work that James Lankford has been doing.” 

Romney added, “The ambiguity that was around for the last few hours has been clarified for all of us. He’s fully behind the border bill, fully behind the support for Ukraine, and is not going to let political considerations of any campaign stand in the way of his support.”

He continued, “Leader McConnell removed any question about his support. He said he is fully supportive of the border bill as he indicated for the last several weeks.”