Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell conceded defeat on additional Ukraine spending Wednesday night after former President Donald Trump’s decisive victory in New Hampshire. Now the Republican Senate chief is blaming Trump, whom he referred to as “the nominee,” for the destruction of an amnesty bill that Democrats cloaked as border security.
“The politics on this have changed,” McConnell told the Republican Senate Conference at a closed-door meeting. “We’re in a quandary.”
McConnell wanted to move forward with a deal cut with Democrats to provide more assistance for Ukraine in exchange for stricter immigration measures as border agents remain overwhelmed between San Diego and the southern tip of Texas. The latest framework for the border, however, would have green-lit Biden’s border crisis with the stamp of congressional approval by allowing millions more migrants to enter the United States without expulsion.
On Thursday, Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney fumed over former President Trump’s interference in the deal by campaigning once again on immigration to win the election.
“I think the border is a very important issue for Donald Trump,” Romney said. “The fact that he would communicate to Republican senators and congresspeople that he doesn’t want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame Biden for it is really appalling.”
But the border bill only promises to exacerbate the current crisis. The proposed expulsion authority included in the bill would only kick in after 5,000 people crossed the border every day. The provision would allow 1.8 million migrants entry every year. According to the House Judiciary Committee, an estimated 1.7 million “known ‘got-aways'” have escaped apprehension by law enforcement since President Joe Biden took office.
Eric Teetsel, the vice president of government relations at the conservative Heritage Foundation, explained on X that the Senate border deal was not “designed to solve the border problem.”
“It’s designed to pass the Senate,” Teetsel wrote. “It’s designed that way because it’s tied to the money for Ukraine, which is the actual priority for those involved.”
“It’s not that they’re bad at negotiation,” said Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at a press conference Wednesday. “It’s that they want this outcome and this outcome is terrible for the American people.”
On Monday, the Supreme Court stepped in to interfere with Cruz’s own state’s efforts to fortify the border as the federal government abandons its constitutional duty to keep Americans safe with robust security. In a 5-4 ruling, the high court vacated an injunction that had temporarily barred the feds from cutting and removing razor wire Texas had erected along parts of the border to deter illegal crossings. Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott responded to the Supreme Court decision declaring state agents would continue operations along the southern border.
[LISTEN: How Biden’s Open Border Is Wrecking Texas]
On Capitol Hill, Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee urged colleagues to slow down on the border deal and complained Senate members were being left in the dark on White House negotiations.
“We’ve been through these things so many times where we’re told, ‘Oh, there’s not a deal yet, not a deal, not a deal.’ All of a sudden: ‘Oh, there’s [a] deal,'” Lee said at a Senate lunch Tuesday. “And then we are given the equivalent of a snap election, like a snap vote, without really any opportunity to read it and no opportunity to amend it.”
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul complained on “Tucker Carlson Uncensored” that GOP Senate leadership was more interested in securing the border of Ukraine than the United States.
“Half of my Republican caucus is, as we speak, ready to sell out, and they’re ready to sell out fake border reform in exchange for what they really want, which is to send more of your tax dollars to Ukraine,” Paul said.
