More aid to Ukraine must be coupled with “transformative” border security reforms, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said on Tuesday.
Johnson sent a formal letter response to the White House one day after Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young warned Congress that the $111 billion in supplemental funds previously allocated to Ukraine for its fight against Russia are running out.
Congressional Republicans demand the “enactment of transformative change to our nation’s border security laws,” Johnson wrote, adding that he made this position clear weeks ago when he visited the White House shortly after he became speaker.
My response to the White House on their lack of a clearly defined strategy and end game for prevailing in Ukraine and the need for transformative change to our nation’s border security laws: pic.twitter.com/JZZhIp7K4v
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) December 5, 2023
Johnson said the GOP-led House passed a bill earlier this year that would require the Homeland Security Department to resume construction of a border wall, increase visa overstay penalties, implement asylum and immigration parole reform, and much more.
The House “has led in defining reforms to secure America’s borders,” the speaker said, adding that “Senate Democrats have refused to act on that bill.” And, Johnson added, the Biden administration “has ignored reality” and chosen to “engage in political posturing” rather than “engaging with Congressional Republicans to discuss logical reforms.”
Senate Republicans have also pushed for immigration reforms, even drawing ideas from the House-passed bill, in talks with Democrats over giving Ukraine another boost as its war with Russia nears the two-year mark. But those negotiations, geared toward passing Biden’s roughly $106 billion supplemental funding request for Ukraine, Israel, and more, recently hit a snag because of disagreements on border security.
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“This is a choice Republicans are making,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said in a post to X on Tuesday. “They have decided to play games with world security by requiring their hardline immigration policy demands be met before Ukraine is saved. This isn’t a game. This is the future of the world.”
Included in Biden’s supplemental funding request was more money to bolster his administration’s border enforcement and management plan, which Young insisted was “working as intended” despite a “fundamentally broken immigration system.”
After taking over as speaker in late October, Johnson endeavored to split up consideration of Biden’s national security funding asks. The House passed a bill to offset $14.3 billion in aid for Israel by slashing the same amount of funds meant for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) refused to even consider the measure.
In his letter to the White House on Tuesday, Johnson said another sticking point has to do with “transparency and accountability for U.S. taxpayer dollars.”
Congress and the public must be provided more clarity on the Biden administration’s “strategy to prevail” in Ukraine, including “what specific resources are required to achieve victory and a sustainable peace,” Johnson said.