The U.S. Senate has agreed on a “security package” worth $120 billion, including support for Ukraine and Israel and strengthening border control. However, the bill is expected to drift again due to opposition from the Republican Party in the House of Representatives. The situation is even more challenging to find a consensus in the U.S. Congress, especially as Donald Trump, the former president who wields significant influence over the Republican Party in the House of Representatives, criticized the bill as “horrible.”
According to Politico and other political specialist media on the 5th (local time), the 370-page Senate agreement bill is worth $118.3 billion, including support for Ukraine ($60 billion) and Israel ($14.1 billion), as well as the border security strengthening budget ($20.2 billion) that the Republican Party has been demanding.
The Biden administration had previously submitted an additional budget of $105 billion last year for support for Ukraine, etc.. Still, it was not passed in the atmosphere of the Republican Party, which is skeptical about support for Ukraine and strongly demands a border security budget. The White House has repeatedly emphasized since the end of last year that the U.S. budget for Ukraine has been exhausted, and without a congressional agreement, it can no longer support Ukraine.
As soon as the Senate’s agreement bill was made public, President Biden said, “We have reached a bipartisan national security negotiation agreement, which includes the strongest and fairest border reform in decades,” and “I strongly support this.”
Amid widespread dissatisfaction among voters regarding immigration issues, President Biden is effectively abolishing the existing immigration policy and switching to a border-strengthening policy for re-election. The bill agreed upon by the Senate includes raising the eligibility criteria for asylum applications by immigrants. If the number of immigrants crossing the border illegally exceeds an average of 5,000 per day for five consecutive days, the authorities will automatically intervene and expel them outside the border.
However, even if the bill barely passes the Senate, it will be difficult to pass the House of Representatives. Mike Johnson, the No.1 Republican Rep. in the House of Representatives, said, “(The agreement bill) is much worse than we expected,” and “As soon as it reaches the House of Representatives, it will be ruled as “dead on arrival (DOA).” Steve Scalise (Louisiana), the floor leader of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives, also publicly stated, “It will not be voted on in the House of Representatives.”
Above all, former President Trump, who declared “border closure” on the first day of his administration, vehemently opposes this bill, and it is predicted that negotiations will be difficult in the House of Representatives, where the Republicans are the majority party. On the day, former President Trump said, “Only fools or radical left Democrats will vote for this horrible bill that gives the right to close the border only when the number of immigrants crossing the border exceeds 5,000 a day,” and “We already have the right to close the border, and this must be executed.”
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