WASHINGTON — Members of Congress have returned to Capitol Hill after the holidays, and it’s expected to be a tough two weeks. Large parts of the government will shut down next Friday unless there’s a deal to approve new spending.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Democrats reached a tentative deal over the weekend on a budget for this year, but not all hardline Republicans are on board.
And, negotiations to limit the flow of migrants across the border are still far from reaching a deal. Several Republicans in Wisconsin’s congressional delegation are using it as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Democrats to provide Ukraine with $60 billion in new U.S. aid.
Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Minocqua, is one of many Republicans who said any deal must include their massive border security bill known as HR2.
“If you take one element out, it allows for loopholes,” he said.
It would resume construction of former president Donald Trump’s border wall and his policy of requiring migrants seeking asylum to remain in Mexico while their cases are reviewed. The newest sticking point for Republicans is limiting the power of the president to grant temporary protections to migrants, a process known as parole.
“This is supposed to be on a case-by-case basis,” Rep. Tiffany said. “What the [Biden] administration and some of the Democrat senators are attempting to do is create this massive loophole where they can just wave people in, en masse, rather than being on an individual basis.”
Congressman Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said he is also intent on passing HR2 in its entirety.
“Any Democrat who does not accept HR2 is complicit in allowing this crisis to continue unhindered,” he said in a statement to Spectrum News.
President Joe Biden has requested more money for border patrol officers and immigration judges. On Wednesday, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., will gather with other Republicans to discuss the deal Senate Democrats have been working on with the White House. Johnson said he wants Ukraine funding to be contingent on metrics showing a decrease in crossings. He proposed giving Ukraine $5 billion a month if there are 20,000 fewer migrant crossings.
“Listen, if somebody has another idea that would actually force the Biden administration to implement whatever law we pass, I'm open to it,” he said.
Johnson said he supports HR2, but Democrats have been clear they don’t.
When asked if a border deal is worth losing Ukraine to Russia, Sen. Johnson said, “I don’t think we’re going to lose Ukraine. I think that’s a fallacy.”
“We already are at a bloody stalemate. There’s already trench warfare. No side’s winning. The only way this ends is in a negotiated settlement,” he continued. “I'm very sympathetic. I want to support the Ukrainian people in their fight for freedom. I think it makes sense to me, $5 billion dollars a month. I think that money [would] be more focused on the type of warfare that might bring Putin to the negotiating table. And that would be drones; that would be sniper rifles... You might as well end this now, as opposed to a complete fantasy that somehow $60 billion is going to turn the tide and allow Ukraine to win. That won’t happen.”
His counterpart, Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, said providing aid to Ukraine is “crucial,” and she’s committed to working in a bipartisan manner to invest in border security.
“No Democrat-only or Republican-only idea is going to prevail. We've got to work together. That’s what you have to do,” she said. “And so we've got to staff up that system to make our southern border secure, orderly, and to be able to have a process that intercepts illicit drugs.”
Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, echoed a similar message.
“This is Congress’s responsibility, and we need to deal with this in a bipartisan fashion, but Republicans refuse to work together with Democrats on this,” he said in a statement to Spectrum News.
This all comes as House Republicans are set to hold an impeachment hearing for Biden’s top border official, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, on Wednesday. Mayorkas said Congress needs to give his agencies more resources so he can do his job effectively.