Republicans Are Breaking This Border Deal, ‘Now They’ll Own It’
Donald Trump ordered his party to tank a bill that they had fought for
The political blowback has begun after Republicans walked away from the uncompromising border security bill they themselves demanded as the price for additional US assistance to Ukraine and Israel.
Republicans, beginning with then-House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif) yoked tough, new border security enforcement as a condition for President Biden’s priorities of foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel, as well as humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza.
Although lawmakers — led by Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn) — negotiated successfully and arduously for four months, Republicans have now walked away on the direction of Donald Trump, who doesn’t want to hand Biden a political win ahead of the November election.
Angry lawmakers — mostly Democrats, but also a handful of Republicans — took to social media or the cable news networks to express their bewilderment and their outrage.
“The Republicans are turning on the immigration bill they said they HAD to have,” Sen Tina Smith (D-Minn) posted on the site formerly known as Twitter. “They got what they wanted, but since it’s not what Trump wants, it’s over. That’s what’s crazy.”
Sen Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) put it just as succinctly.
“Just gobsmacked. I’ve never seen anything like it. They literally demanded specific policy, got it, and then killed it,” he posted.
A highly right-wing Republican, Lankford, too, expressed his surprise.
“Senate Republicans demanded changes in the law in October and said we're not going to move on other people's national security until we deal with our national security. And now we get to this moment. I've got so many colleagues that are backing away,” he said. “And I'm not saying it's all based on the political reasons, some will have legitimate issues and say, ‘Hey, I don't like this part of the bill, or I wish there was more in it.’ But some are backing away also based on the politics of the moment.”
New York’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, said that Republicans now own this political mess.
“Well, I'm not surprised. But here's what the bottom line is, is I used to help start a flower shop with my mom, I used to work there with her. We had a sign that said, ‘If you break it, you own it.’ The Republicans are breaking this deal, now they'll own it.
“Now they will go on defense and we're going on offense. Because guess what? There was a solution sitting right in front of you,” said Hochul, whose state saw a group of violent migrants last week attack New York City police officers. “It was gift wrapped. You could have taken it. You could have helped solve this problem. And I guarantee Republican governors on the border wanted this to happen.”
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