by Joseph Weber
The Senate on Sunday night released the text of its long-awaited border security bill.
The $118 billion package includes provisions to reduce record-high crossings at the southern U.S. border and tighten the country’s asylum system, according to NBC News.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he would like to votes on the package this week.
But as of Sunday evening, its fate in the Democrat-controlled upper chamber was unclear.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson lamented this weekend about members of his chamber not being involved in the drafting of the bill and expressed no desire to bring it to a swift vote.
The southern border has been overwhelmed by migrants, particularly from Central America, fleeing their homes to seek refuge.
The bill also include a requests for aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan that Republicans say they will support only if the larger measure includes significant and new immigration restrictions.
The chief negotiators on the measure were Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz.
If passed, the bill would include the most comprehensive border security and migration policy in decades, also according to NBC News.
“The Senate’s bipartisan agreement is a monumental step towards strengthening America’s national security abroad and along our borders,” said Schumer, a New York Democrat.
Passage of the bill will be especially challenging in a presidential election year.
House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green said after the bill was released that he and the speaker were reviewing it and that he would “vehemently oppose any agreement that legitimizes, normalizes any level of illegal immigration.”
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Joseph Weber is a reporter at Just the News.
Photo “Illegal Border Crossers” by Chief Border Patrol Agent John Modlin.
