The Senate is ready to postpone talks on the Ukrainian border bill until next year

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by Josh Christensen

The Senate appears ready to advance negotiations on an additional $110 billion spending bill for aid to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and U.S. border security through 2024, with some Republicans saying it would be impossible to finalize the legislative text before the holidays.

“Although Senate leadership has not yet acknowledged it, the negotiators themselves say writing and voting on the bill before we are scheduled to return the week of January 8,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told The Washington Post. “It is simply not possible.” In the current situation.

“I am happy to allow negotiations to continue during the recess, and then have the opportunity to fully review, discuss and modify what I produce.”

Hours later, Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) He told CNN There is “no way” the vote will take place this week.

On Sunday, Johnson and 14 Republicans in the Senate I sent a message To Conference Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) to request a meeting when the Senate returns in January to discuss the effort.

“Fast and secret negotiations with Democrats who want open borders and who caused the current crisis will not secure the border,” they wrote, calling for an “open and transparent process” starting in the new year.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who did not join his colleagues in the letter, told The Washington Post on Monday that President Biden and his administration are “going slow” in the negotiation process.

Biden, 81, tied funding requests for Ukraine and the border together in October — along with other aid proposals for Israel and Taiwan — and demanded that Congress pass the measure before it recesses or hands Russian President Vladimir Putin his “greatest Christmas gift.” “They might give it to him.”

But Republicans in Congress have been reluctant to provide funding without fundamental reforms to U.S. asylum policies or adequate guarantees for aid to Ukraine.

Sen. James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), the lead Republican negotiator on the bill, worked over the weekend on several aspects of the asylum proposals, but had not yet announced an agreement by Monday afternoon.

“We are pushing and saying: If it is not clearer now, we had two and a half million people crossing the border illegally last year, and we are now up to 10,000 people a year the day they cross the border – if it is not clear by now This is a need, when will that be clear?’” Lankford told The Post last week when asked about the talks.

“The effects of years of border enforcement failure are mounting, border security policy is complex, and our colleagues at the negotiating table are mindful of the fact that getting this agreement right and passing legislative text will take time.” Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a supporter of additional aid to Ukraine, said in his speech on Monday.

“I am encouraged by our colleagues’ commitment to continuing to make steady progress in their negotiations over the coming week and beyond.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) also thanked the negotiators — who also include Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) — for the extra hours they put in.

“Finding a compromise is very difficult, and both sides must accept that they will have to compromise and it will take time to accomplish that,” Schumer said.

Murphy acknowledged that a framework must be presented by the end of Monday in order for the vote to take place later this week, according to the statements. Quoted from Punchbowl News.

In his speech, Schumer only committed to confirming “before the end of the week” a slate of military nominations that had been delayed for months by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) in protest of a Pentagon policy that compensates service members. Who travel across state lines to undergo abortion procedures.

The White House previously warned that Ukrainian military aid was at risk of running out by the end of 2023, before a visit by Kiev President Volodymyr Zelensky to Capitol Hill revealed the deadline was still months away.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) criticized the Biden administration’s lack of transparency on aid to Ukraine after his meeting with Zelensky, and has already sent the House into recess until January 9.

“The Biden administration appears to be asking for billions of additional dollars with no proper oversight, no clear strategy to win, and none of the answers I believe the American people deserve,” he told reporters at the time.

When the House returns to Washington, lawmakers will have just over a week to finalize the national security bill and pass it in both chambers before taking further appropriations measures to avoid a partial government shutdown.