The Senate released the text of a long-awaited national security bill on Sunday that is expected to receive a vote on Wednesday.
The $118 billion legislation is similar to the supplemental funding request that appropriators released in December.
The bill includes more than $60 billion to Ukraine to fight off Russia’s invasion, $20 billion to address the border crisis, $14.1 billion in security assistance to Israel, $10 billion in humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Ukraine, $4.8 billion to help Taiwan and Indo-Pacific allies, and an additional $2.4 billion to support U.S. Central Command operations in the Red Sea, according to details from the Senate Appropriations Committee.
President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) hailed the bipartisan agreement, with Biden on Sunday pledging to sign into law the “toughest and fairest set of border reforms in decades.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who is a strong backer of Ukraine aid, also urged the Senate to act despite opposition from former President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
“It is time to force the president to start cleaning up his mess and equip future leaders with a system that works and new emergency tools to restore order,” McConnell said in a statement that chided Biden for the border crisis.
Senate Republicans last year blocked the original emergency funding request over the immigration portion of the bill, which lacked policy changes to stem the record flow of border crossings.
The latest iteration incorporates a bipartisan compromise on the border, the product of four months of painstaking talks led by Sens. James Lankford (R-OK), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ).
Controversy has swirled around the details of that compromise. Conservatives opposed to the deal have simultaneously accused the negotiators of “secrecy” while panning supposed provisions of the agreement as tantamount to an “open borders” wish list.
The outlines of the deal, brokered by a bipartisan working group in conjunction with the White House, came into view ahead of the bill’s release. The legislation would tighten asylum standards and compel the president to shut down the border once crossings reach a weekly average of 5,000 per day.
But lawmakers, particularly Republicans, have waited with anticipation to view the actual text of the legislation ahead of a test vote Schumer has planned for Wednesday.
The bill would shorten the time it takes to determine immigrants’ asylum claims to no longer than six months and create a higher standard for the initial screening, to take place within 90 days. The bill also includes the Afghan Adjustment Act, which would provide a process for permanent legal status for Afghans who fled during the 2021 withdrawal, as well as the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, which empowers the administration to target entities that produce or smuggle fentanyl.
The chances of the bill becoming law are bleak. Johnson, who favors H.R. 2, the House’s signature border bill, has already declared the compromise “dead on arrival” in the House.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) reiterated that position Sunday, saying the House would ignore the legislation. “Let me be clear: The Senate Border Bill will NOT receive a vote in the House.”
Instead, Johnson is planning for a stand-alone vote on aid to Israel this week, a change of course from November when the House passed a $14.3 billion aid bill to Israel that included spending cuts to the Internal Revenue Service, which Senate Democrats decried as a “poison pill” policy rider.
It’s also not clear what kind of support the legislation will have among Senate Republicans despite being backed by McConnell.
Republican leadership hopes to get majority support, or 25 of their 49 members, but even that whip count is unclear, with Trump lobbying against anything short of a “perfect” deal.
“I still favor trying to make law when you can,” McConnell said of Trump’s opposition on Tuesday but declined to speculate on the fate of the legislation.
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Most Democrats are expected to vote for the bill despite concern from progressives over the Israel portion of the supplemental. Already, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who caucuses with the Democrats, plans to introduce an amendment that would strike the billions in offensive weaponry for Israel as it wages war against Hamas.
The planned Wednesday vote is only the first procedural hurdle for the supplemental. It takes a week to move even the simplest legislation through the upper chamber, meaning Schumer will likely have to cancel part of the two-week recess to get the bill passed.
Emergency National Security Supplemental Bill Text by web-producers on Scribd
