Senate Republicans are lining up to try to filibuster a border security package negotiated by both parties, with the blessing of Republican leadership, amid a raging power struggle.
The package showed signs it was at high risk of being scrapped after key Republican Party conservatives in the Senate criticized it as former President Donald Trump said it was a “death wish” for the Republican Party.
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), who helped broker the deal with Democrats, is already predicting the country won’t get the votes needed on a motion to proceed when leaders try to take it up on Wednesday. call.
A 60-vote majority is needed, and a determined minority could filibuster the bill even if it moves forward in the narrowly divided Senate.
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), who helped negotiate the bipartisan security deal, predicts there are currently not enough votes to advance it to the Senate for consideration
“I expect the vote won’t happen on Wednesday,” Lankford said after a contentious Republican Conference meeting on how to proceed. He said lawmakers are demanding “much more time” to review the details of the deal, which also hands out green cards and sends billions to Ukraine and Israel while allocating billions to bolster border security.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had input into the deal and helped set up the negotiations. But members of his team are expressing reservations.
“I think it’s fair to say that everyone thinks voting on Wednesday is too early,” said Senator Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.): NBC reported.
“I think the proposal is dead,” predicted Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.). Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), a former member of Senator Mitch McConnell’s leadership team, is also concerned about it.
The number of Senate Republicans registering opposition approached 20 on Monday evening and had surpassed 22 on Tuesday, according to a Wall Street Journal count.
It’s about an issue that voters see as one of their top concerns, with Democrats accusing Republicans of maneuvering to deny Biden a victory.
That opposition came after President Biden supported the package in a statement. “Now we have agreed to a bipartisan national security deal that includes the toughest and fairest set of border reforms in decades. I wholeheartedly support it,” Biden said.
The bipartisan border deal that divides Republicans in Congress is already prompting angry calls to shake up Senate leadership and angry claims from Donald Trump that it represents a “death wish” for the party in 2024.
The anger came in the hours after negotiators released details of their new bipartisan deal to give the government new powers to “close” the border when crossings spike, while sending billions to support allies Ukraine and Israel.
Among those most disdainful of the deal was Sen. Mike Lee of Utah — who even appeared to demand a change in his party’s leadership after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell helped oversee the deal with Majority Leader Sen. Charles Schumer. McConnell, the longest-serving Republican leader in Senate history, survived a leadership challenge in November 2022 by a 37-10 vote.
‘This feels like an elaborate joke. But it’s not funny. Not even a little. I don’t understand how any Republican would think this was a good idea – or anything other than an unmitigated disaster. WE NEED NEW LEADERSHIP – NOW,” he wrote on X.
“Senate leadership screwed this up — and screwed us,” he wrote in another post. Even as they refused to show us the bill they claimed they were negotiating on our behalf – for MONTHS – they never wavered, insisting that we would be stupid and even unpatriotic not to support it. This is a disqualifying betrayal.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) helped negotiate a bipartisan immigration package that also includes U.S. aid to Ukraine and Israel
Former President Donald Trump, who has already publicly tried to thwart the deal, denounced it after negotiators announced the details.
Trump called it a “ridiculous” border bill and said it was “nothing more than a highly sophisticated trap for Republicans to take the blame for what the radical left Democrats have done to our border just in time for our most important elections.” ever. Don’t fall for it!!!’
Trump abandoned a provision that allowed the government to close the border when the number of daily border crossings reached 5,000.
“Only a fool, or a radical left Democrat, would vote for this horrible border bill, which only provides shutdown authority after 5,000 encounters a day, when we already have the right to close the border NOW, which must be done. This bill is a great gift to Democrats and a death wish to the Republican Party,” Trump said.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee used bipartisan immigration bill to call for ‘new leadership’
Lee called the deal ‘even worse than we thought’
Sen. Mike Lee is just one of several conservative Republicans in the Senate who reached the compromise in the hours after it was released
Former President Donald Trump denounced the deal online
That attack came amid criticism that House Speaker Mike Johnson and allies were trashing the deal at Trump’s behest to prevent President Joe Biden from securing a political victory.
Among those making the case was Majority Leader Charles Schumer, 73, who worked closely with McConnell, 81, on the deal as both leaders try to advance funding for Ukraine and Israel.
‘It took a long time: four months of difficult negotiations. They fell off the rails a number of times. I even had to be on the phone at midnight,” said Schumer, who had previously predicted success after a meeting at the White House last month.
“The majority of Republican senators know this is the right thing to do. I am not a compromise. I don’t like everything in it, and neither does McConnell. It’s a compromise. it’s the only way you get important things done in the Senate,” he said, urging senators “drown out the political noise of Trump and his minions and do what is right for America… History looks down on each of us.”
In a sign of the volatility of the issues, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a longtime Schumer ally and former party colleague, announced his own opposition Monday afternoon.
Also Sens. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) also chased it.
The number of Republicans opposed to the deal approached 20 as of Monday afternoon, almost halfway to the 41 that would be needed to filibuster it.
“The crisis has literally never been more dire,” McConnell said on the Senate floor Monday, urging action. He said the “gaping hole” in the country’s borders “will not heal itself.”
“This is a humanitarian and security crisis of historic proportions. And Senate Republicans have maintained for not just months, but years, that this urgent crisis required action,” he said.