A group of House Republicans unveiled a bipartisan $66.32 billion bill on Feb. 16 that includes border security measures and military assistance to Ukraine and Israel.
The move came after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) rejected a $95 billion package to fund Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan passed by the Senate earlier this year. House Republicans rejected the bill for not having measures to secure the southern border.
The new bill includes $47.69 billion for Ukraine, $10.4 billion for Israel, $4.91 billion for the deterrence of the United States and its allies in the Indo-Pacific, $2.44 billion for U.S. Central Command such as addressing the Houthi threat in the Middle East, and $542 million for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
No foreign economic assistance is in the measure, which was put forth by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), Don Bacon (R-Neb.), Ed Case (R-Hawaii), Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.), Jared Golden (D-Maine), Jim Costa (D-Calif.), and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.).
Most of the funding for Ukraine would be for the U.S. military to help the Eastern European country, Mr. Bacon told reporters on Feb. 16.
In the virtual meeting with reporters, Mr. Bacon defended the Ukraine part, though he acknowledged “there'll be some who want zero aid to Ukraine.”
“You can’t just stand by when [Vladimir] Putin invades a neighbor like this,” he added. “And it’s been a barbaric invasion. They’re killing innocent people. They’re kidnapping children.”
Mr. Bacon noted that Ukraine is the one militarily fighting and that the assistance the United States has given to Ukraine has been a small fraction of the U.S. defense budget.
Speaker Open to Discussion
Mr. Johnson’s staff is receptive but noncommittal to the bill, said Mr. Bacon, who cited the border security measures. Mr. Bacon said he will meet with Mr. Johnson over the weekend.This measure is likely to attract opposition from hard-line conservatives, especially the House Freedom Caucus, which has opposed Ukraine aid amid the crisis at the southern border, and progressives, who will likely take issue with the border provisions.
The bill would require the Homeland Security secretary to stop illegal immigrants from coming into the United States if the secretary deems it imperative to protect the border. This measure would only be effective for one year from the legislation’s enactment.
Moreover, the measure would require immigration officers to deny entry to the United States for illegal immigrants and instead immediately send them to Mexico or their country of residence, birth, or origin. Those who are claiming they would be tortured or executed if they return to their home country would be admitted unless they were part of the persecution of someone else, if they were a threat to U.S. citizens, if they may have committed a serious crime outside the United States, or if there is a reason they pose a threat to U.S. national security.
The bill would reinstitute President Donald Trump’s policy of requiring asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico pending adjudication of their case.
Controversial Senate Bill
The House bill comes days after the Senate passed a $95.3 billion bill in a 70–29 vote that includes assistance to Ukraine, $14 billion to Israel in its war against Hamas, and $4.83 billion for Indo-Pacific partners, including Taiwan, to counter communist China’s aggression. It does not include border security and immigration measures.It has attracted opposition from some conservative Republicans who say the U.S.–Mexico border should be secured before funds are given to overseas partners.
That bill came after the Senate failed to move a $118 billion bill that would have provided that foreign aid in addition to enacting border security and immigration reforms.
Republicans had argued that the border measures did not go far enough to stem the flow of illegal immigration at the southern border.
It would have mandated a border shutdown if daily illegal crossings averaged 5,000 over a given week, although it would have included an emergency authority for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to shut down the border if an average of 4,000 daily encounters were reached over one week.
The deal would have also limited President Joe Biden’s parole authority, a power that gives him the ability to allow more illegal immigrants into the country and raised the legal bar for the initial screening of asylum claims.
It would have also expedited the asylum processing time from many years to six months.
In January, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol encountered 176,205 illegal immigrants. During the federal fiscal year, which started Oct. 1, 2023, there have been almost 962,000 encounters.
Unlike the Senate package, the House bill does not include economic aid for Ukraine nor humanitarian aid to Gaza.
