‘An Absolute Non-Starter’: House Republicans Vow To Tank Senate Border Bill
February 04, 2024
A top House Republican vowed to kill a 370-page foreign aid and border security package released by Senate negotiators Sunday, calling it a “magnet” for additional illegal immigration.
Republican Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana vowed the Senate legislation would be dead on arrival after Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington released the text of the legislation Sunday evening after weeks of negotiation between Senate Democrats and Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma. Some Republican members of the House of Representatives ripped the legislation, which includes $60 billion in aid for Ukraine and $14 billion in aid for Israel in addition to adding provisions to deal with illegal immigration, saying it does too little to secure the border.
“Let me be clear: The Senate Border Bill will NOT receive a vote in the House.” Scalise, the house majority leader, posted on X. “Here’s what the people pushing this ‘deal’ aren’t telling you: It accepts 5,000 illegal immigrants a day and gives automatic work permits to asylum recipients—a magnet for more illegal immigration.”
“It took the Senate months to build a bill,” Republican Rep. Tony Gonzalez of Texas posted. “I GUARANTEE it will take the House months to review EVERY line.”
“No self-respecting senator should agree to vote on this 370-page bill this week,” Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah posted. “Any 41 senators can prevent the bill from proceeding. If you agree that senators should have this bill for at least a few weeks (and certainly more than a few days) before voting on it, say so!”
Some provisions of the bill drew immediate criticism from Republicans for still allowing hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants into the United States.
“The Senate Amnesty Bill literally would let in illegals,” Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida posted. “Any Republican who votes for this is no better than a Democrat!”
“The Senate border ‘deal’ is an unserious attempt to show progress in an election year, when in reality, they bent the knee to Biden’s open-border agenda,” Republican Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona posted.
United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported over 302,000 illegal immigrants came across the U.S.-Mexico border in December after nearly 380,000 illegal immigrants have been encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border during the first two months fiscal year 2024, which started Oct. 1, according to data released by the agency. CBP also reported 2,045,838 encounters in fiscal year 2023, 2,206,436 in fiscal year 2022 and 1,659,206 in fiscal year 2021. $0 is allocated for a Border Wall. “This Bill is DOA. We the People will not sit idly by as crooked politicians make permanent these dangerous/deadly open borders.”