Fewer than 24 hours after a long-awaited, bipartisan border deal and foreign aid package was unveiled in the Senate, opposition is rapidly mounting in the chamber – making it increasingly possible the bill will not survive a key vote expected this week.
It would take only 41 senators voting against the bill to sink the deal in an upcoming procedural vote, and there are already 21 senators who have signaled publicly they are opposed to it. More are expected to come out against the bill, while only 12 senators have publicly backed it. With so many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle lining up against the deal, the bill is at risk of not getting the 60 votes needed to advance.
The grim odds facing the bill in the Senate come as former President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson have continued to attack the deal, ratcheting up pressure on Senate Republicans to oppose it or risk facing a conservative backlash. Johnson was quick to say after the deal was formally unveiled that it would be “dead on arrival” in the House.
While Republicans opposed to the deal are attacking it as too weak, the bill would mark a tough change to immigration law, which hasn’t been modified for decades, and would give the president far-reaching powers to significantly restrict illegal migrant crossings at the southern border.
The sweeping $118.2 billion legislative package would also provide aid to key US allies abroad, including billions of dollars to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia and security assistance for Israel, as well as humanitarian assistance for civilians in Gaza, the West Bank and Ukraine.
The bill is the product of months of bipartisan negotiations with a trio of senators – Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Sen. James Lankford of…
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