‘Gauntlet has been thrown’: KY’s McConnell confronts test on package for border, Ukraine
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s full-throated backing of a months-long negotiated bipartisan $118 billion border security and foreign aid package presents a significant test for his leadership of a Republican caucus that’s fracturing over the measure.
The Kentucky leader framed the supplemental as an opportunity for Congress to fix a southern border that’s been thrown into crisis on President Joe Biden’s watch and invest in American hard power abroad as U.S. adversaries seek to capitalize on metastasizing global wars.
“The time has finally come for the Senate to respond with strength,” McConnell declared on the Senate floor. “Make no mistake: the gauntlet has been thrown. And America needs to pick it up.”
Tellingly, in his Senate remarks on Monday he never mentioned Ukraine, which would receive $60 billion – nearly half of the entire bill’s allocation – if passed and signed into law.
The carefully cobbled together compromise has sparked vehement critiques and outright opposition from the chamber’s most conservative flank, including Sen. Rand Paul, who has name-checked McConnell in outlining his aversion to the bill.
Paul argued that instead of working to secure the border, “McConnell… and others were doing the complete opposite, using any opportunity to send foreign aid to other countries and use other avenues to waste taxpayer spending.”
“(Federal Reserve) Chair (Jerome) Powell says federal debt problem is urgent. McConnell, Biden & Schumer response: borrow another $118 billion and send it to foreign countries,” Paul posted on X, formerly Twitter.
By one estimate, at least 20 Republican senators, including Paul, have indicated they will vote against the measure.
And even if McConnell is able to secure enough GOP votes to push it through the Senate, he’s been forewarned by House GOP leadership that it essentially has no chance of passing the lower chamber.
“Among its many flaws, the bill expands work authorizations for illegal aliens while failing to include critical asylum reforms. Even worse, its language allowing illegals to be ‘released from physical custody’ would effectively endorse the Biden ‘catch and release’ policy,” said Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, in a statement signed by his entire leadership team. “Any consideration of this Senate bill in its current form is a waste of time. It is dead on arrival in the House.
Advocates for the legislation contend it will end current “catch-and-release” policies and revolutionize the standard used to determine if a migrant is being persecuted and qualifies for asylum. It provides new expedited authority to remove migrants in the country illegally within 90 days and it creates a trigger for a complete shutdown of the border if crossings hit 5,000 a day.
But if changes are sought, an amendment process could become a vehicle for conservatives to continually delay a vote, a prospect raised by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois.
“I don’t want this to turn into a filibuster, which it easily could,” Durbin told reporters. “That’s the problem. And I think Senator McConnell knows it.”
McConnell also could risk a wider rebellion, depending how hard and long he decides he wants to fight for the package.
“I believe that we can make a move now on Mitch McConnell,” said Steve Bannon, a former counselor to former President Donald Trump who now hosts his own streaming program. “I think this is the weakest Mitch McConnell’s ever been. This is a complete, complete disaster.”
Fox News’ Laura Ingraham proclaimed that McConnell should have worked closer with Johnson to craft the legislation.
“Instead he tried to undermine the speaker. Let’s see how that works out for him,” Ingraham said.
“Mitch McConnell is trying to screw over not only the House GOP leadership but also his colleagues in the Senate GOP,” charged Will Chamberlain, a conservative Florida-based attorney. “If this is his approach – why is he still allowed to be the leader? Time for a change.”
Still, McConnell could help muscle the bill through with just 12 to 15 Republican votes if the majority of Democrats stay on board.
The question is how long they’ll take to debate the text, which was only released over the weekend.
Some Republicans are signaling it’ll take “days and weeks” to fully evaluate the bill’s merits.
“If we can’t get half of the conference, we shouldn’t move forward,” said Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota.
