The G.O.P. abandoned a bipartisan border security bill that also aided Ukraine after Democrats called their bluff on immigration, agreeing to tough measures Republicans demanded.

The G.O.P. abandoned a bipartisan border security bill that also aided Ukraine after Democrats called their bluff on immigration, agreeing to tough measures Republicans demanded.

Congressional Republicans thought they had set a clever trap for Democrats that would accomplish complementary political and policy goals.

Their idea was to tie approval of military assistance to Ukraine to tough border security demands that Democrats would never accept, allowing Republicans to block the money for Kyiv that many of them oppose while simultaneously enabling them to pound Democrats for refusing to halt a surge of migrants at the border. It was to be a win-win headed into November’s elections.

But Democrats tripped them up by offering substantial — almost unheard-of — concessions on immigration policy without insisting on much in return. Now it is Republicans who are rapidly abandoning a compromise that gave them much of what they wanted, leaving aid to Ukraine in deep jeopardy, border policy in turmoil and Congress again flailing as multiple crises at home and abroad go without attention because of a legislative stalemate.

The turn of events led to a remarkable Capitol Hill spectacle this week as a parade of Senate Republicans almost instantly repudiated a major piece of legislation they had spent months demanding as part of any agreement to provide more help to a beleaguered Ukraine. Even Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader and foremost Republican advocate of helping Ukraine, and Senator James Lankford, the Oklahoma Republican who invested months in cutting the border deal, suggested they would vote to block it on the floor in a test vote set for Wednesday.

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  • @dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
    91•9 months ago

    I think it is because Republicans started to believe their own media lies that all Democrats wanted open borders and unfettered amnesty for all. As far as I can tell, the Democrats priorities in all this is simply to treat everyone, including migrants, with human dignity. That includes illegals already in the country, who have been working to fit in to their communities and are generally law-abiding (other than the law they broke to stay here in the first place). It also includes the kids who were brought here as children and only know America, but find out too late that they weren’t born here.

    So when this current round of negotiations started, and Democrats understood that none of their priorities regarding illegals already in the country were on the table, in a sense it freed them to negotiate more, because they don’t care as much as Republicans do about the stuff that was left. Democrats probably don’t care quite so much whether a migrant is admitted or turned away, as long as those migrants are not dying on razor wire, with the Texas National Guard preventing anyone from helping.

    • peopleproblems
      35•9 months ago

      You know that’s… A good point. I personally don’t care that people are turned away, I just want people given the chance, to do it safely, and to help those in immediate danger.