Senate to Vote on Border-Ukraine Bill Next Week: Schumer

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced on Feb. 1 that the supplemental bill that would provide assistance to Ukraine and Israel, in addition to dealing with the border, will be released between Feb. 2 and Feb. 5.

“Conversations are ongoing. some issues still need resolution, but we are getting very close on the national security supplemental,” said Mr. Schumer on the Senate floor.

The majority leader went on to say that the supplemental is vital to “enabling us to address multiple crises around the globe,” from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to Hamas’ latest terrorist assault on Israel to the Chinese Communist Party threat in the Indo-Pacific.

He also said that “our southern border is in urgent need—in urgent need of fixing.”

Mr. Schumer said there will be voting on Feb. 5, when he will be filing cloture. The first procedural vote will be no later than Feb. 7, he said.

“That will give members plenty of time to read the bill before voting on it,” he said.

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Moreover, Mr. Schumer acknowledged the inconvenience this may cause senators, who use recesses to visit their home state and take trips nationwide and abroad.

But “these challenges at the border and in Ukraine and the Middle East are just too great, and we will need to be here working,” he said.

Additionally, when it comes to the supplemental,  he said, “Addressing these challenges is not easy, but we cannot simply shirk from our responsibilities just because a task is difficult.”

However, the supplemental is expected to be dead on arrival in the GOP-controlled House as Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), have said no new legislation is needed in calling for President Joe Biden to secure the southern border.

There have been 785,422 encounters at the southwest border by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in the 2024 fiscal year, which started in October 2023, according to the agency.

According to CBP, there were almost 2.48 million encounters in the previous fiscal year—an increase of 96,725 from fiscal year 2022.

President Biden has said he’d sign into law a bipartisan border deal.

“What’s been negotiated would—if passed into law—be the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country,” he said in a Jan. 26 statement.

“It would give me, as president, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed. And if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law.”

The deal reportedly would permit the president to close ports of entry if illegal crossings reach a certain threshold.

One of the negotiators, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), announced on Jan. 28 that a proposal was almost ready.

“This bill could be ready to be on the floor of the United States Senate next week,” he said on CNN, “but it won’t be if Republicans decide that they want to keep this issue unsettled for political purposes.”

On Jan. 29, Mr. Johnson made clear where House Republicans will draw the line on any agreement dealing with the border: allowing illegal crossings.

“Any border ’shutdown’ authority that allows even one illegal crossing is a non-starter. Thousands each day is outrageous. The number must be zero,” Mr. Johnson wrote on X on Jan. 29.