Politics
McConnell is stirring up another round of supplemental funding, but this time conservatives are ready to slice it up.
Twice in recent months, Republicans have thwarted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s wishes. In September, the GOP Senate conference spoiled the Kentuckian’s scheme to attach $60 billion in Ukraine aid to the Senate version of the continuing resolution (CR). After Hamas’s brutal attack against Israel in early October, McConnell doubled down on his designs to fund foreign wars, partnering with President Joe Biden over his Republican colleagues to push for a twelve-figure supplemental aid package that covered Israel, Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific, and (ostensibly) border security. House Republicans, under the new leadership of Speaker Mike Johnson, refused to do McConnell and Biden’s bidding and advanced a stand-alone bill to aid Israel.
One might think McConnell ought to pause and rethink his strategy after suffering two humiliating defeats, but it appears he’s lost control of his pausing, too. So, McConnell continues whipping up a hundred billion dollar pie to ensure all his favorite foreign nations get a slice.
“America faces grave national security challenges, beginning at home on our southern border,” McConnell tweeted Monday. “To pass the Senate, supplemental legislation to address threats from Iran, Russia, and China must also include serious policy changes to bring Washington Democrats’ border crisis under control.”
Nevertheless, McConnell does get one thing right: If Ukraine funding is not attached to aid to Israel or to border security, chances for more Ukraine aid before the end of 2023 or in the early part of 2024 are slim. While McConnell has staked his legacy on Ukraine funding and Ukraine’s eventual victory, an increasing number of Republican legislators and Republican voters are souring on America’s involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war. If McConnell wants to give Ukraine a big Christmas present, the provisions to secure the border must be strong enough to make Ukraine funding tolerable for the needed number of House Republicans.
Senate leadership has deputized a bipartisan group of six senators to negotiate the border provisions. Republicans made the initial offer in early November. Their proposal would have tightened asylum practices, parole policies, and resumed construction on the former President Donald Trump’s border wall. Democrats quickly and predictably rejected that offer, but it kicked off further talks of what the two sides thought could be done. While the group of senators—Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Michael Bennet of Colorado, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, and, early on, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina—failed to produce anything workable before the November 17 CR deadline, discussions continued through the Thanksgiving break.
The group has reportedly brewed up provisions aimed at tightening up the initial screening process for asylum applicants, but differences on how the government should handle humanitarian parole, a policy that allows the president to use his discretion to allow certain migrants into the U.S.