Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer‘s (D-NY) plan to pass a border deal after delaying the end-of-the-year holiday break will not succeed, a Republican senator predicted on Sunday.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) told “Fox News Sunday” anchor Shannon Bream that he spoke with a couple of the “key” negotiators in talks geared toward linking a border security overhaul to funds for Ukraine, Israel, and other national security issues.
“They feel like they’re making some progress, but I know Sen. Schumer thinks there’s going to be some deal cut behind closed doors and then jam it through the Senate and then jam the House. That’s not going to happen,” Cornyn said.
“But we are making some progress, but this isn’t just about money. This is about policies that will actually stem the flow of mass migration across the border, along with the drugs and everything that goes with it,” he added.
Schumer announced last week that the upper chamber would stay in session another week to allow Senate and Biden administration negotiators to reach a compromise to answer President Joe Biden’s national security supplemental request worth more than $100 billion.
“Members need to be here next week. We have to get this done. Our Republican colleagues who have said action on the border is so urgent should have no problem with continuing to work next week,” Schumer said. “We hope to come to an agreement. But no matter what, members should be aware that we will vote on a supplemental proposal next week.”
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The House’s GOP majority passed border legislation earlier this year, but Schumer refused to have the Senate take up the bill and what he described as “partisan right-wing demands.” Now, the lower chamber has adjourned for the holidays, not waiting for the Senate and Biden administration to develop a new framework.
“For some reason, the Biden Administration waited until this week to even begin negotiations with Congress on the border issue. While that work should continue, the House will not wait around to receive and debate a rushed product,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said in a post to X on Thursday.
Conservatives and leftist members of Congress have expressed skepticism about what may emerge from the border negotiations, which could include asylum and immigration reforms.
“All we are asking for the president to do is to actually enforce the law, and now that we’ve got the purse strings of Congress that Congress controls, we are hoping to use that as leverage to change those policies,” Cornyn said of GOP priorities.
“What we’re asking for is humane, orderly, and legal immigration. Right now, the only people benefitting from the status quo are the human smugglers, the criminal organizations that are getting richer by the day along with the drug cartels,” he added. “And for the last three years, President Biden has demonstrated he simply didn’t care. Well, apparently, now, he cares. We’ve got his attention and we intend to do something about it.”