Senators have finally unveiled the details of the long-awaited bill to fund Ukraine, Israel, and impose border security measures.
A bipartisan group of senators has unveiled a highly anticipated bill that includes border security measures as well as additional funding for Ukraine and Israel, which House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said is “dead on arrival” in the House.
During a Jan. 28 appearance on CNN, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), one of the negotiators, announced that a border deal had been reached.
Nearly a week later, lawmakers finally unveiled the long-awaited text of the bill (pdf).
The $118 billion package addresses a wide array of national security expenses, including funding for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, as well as provisions strengthening and funding border security. According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, $60 billion is allocated to Ukraine, $14.1 billion for Israel, and $20 billion to implement the border security measures.
Wrangling over border security comprised the bulk of the negotiators’ time, as Republicans sought to gain stricter concessions on border security and Democrats sought less strict provisions.
Negotiated by Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), the package—if passed—would represent the largest border legislation in decades.
Border Measures
The bill provides a new emergency authority for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to restrict border crossings if an average of 4,000 daily encounters is hit over a one-week span. If this threshold is reached, then the DHS secretary could shut down the border by denying illegal immigrants the ability to apply for asylum.
But if average encounters reach 5,000 a day over a given week, then the DHS secretary is required to shut down the border. The deal also limits the president’s parole authority, a power that gives the president the ability to allow more illegal immigrants into the country.
The deal raises the legal bar for the initial screening of asylum claims. It would also expedite the asylum processing time to six months from many years.
The package also doesn’t include a restoration of former President Donald Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy, which many Republicans have told The Epoch Times is a must-have.
By Jackson Richman and Joseph Lord
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