Just four days out from a government shutdown, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has declared a bipartisan Senate stopgap measure dead on arrival.
Senators, having apparently lost faith in McCarthy’s ability to stave off a shutdown, negotiated a bill late Tuesday night that funds the government until Nov. 17 and includes $12 billion in aid and disaster relief for Ukraine. It’s expected to be voted on by the end of the week before being sent over to the House, and is intended to buy lawmakers more time to hash out a longer-term deal, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said.
But, according to Punchbowl News, McCarthy said in a closed-door meeting on Wednesday morning that he wouldn’t take up a bill that includes Ukraine funding but no border security measures. “I don’t see the support in the House,” he reportedly said.
Aid for Ukraine has been one of several sticking points for ultraconservative hardliners in the House who have repeatedly sabotaged McCarthy’s efforts to get spending bills passed.
What ultimately matters most are your priorities for immigration. Do you in any way want to limit legal immigration at the southern border? Do you want the immigrant population to grow more slowly, or are you ok with a high rate of immigration?
The fundamental reality is that many of the people who enter illegally have valid claims for entering, and under current rules and standards they should be allowed in. Many Republicans cheered on a measure to give asylum to people fleeing certain authoritarian countries like Cuba and Venezuela. The issue is that the legal channels are backed up due to underfunding, so many of those theoretically legal refugees enter illegally. When they enter illegally, they can’t use the systems meant to ferry them to sanctuary cities, even ones far from the border.
The reason the processing system isn’t properly funded is that Republicans want to limit both legal and illegal immigration from Latin America. They are actually the ones guilty for creating so much illegal immigration, and the crisis at the border. They want to only fund efforts to keep immigrants out, and refuse to fund efforts to let qualified refugees in. If you want the border situation addressed and don’t care about limiting immigration for qualified refugees, conservatives are the ones to blame.