The news in this article comes primarily from the left-leaning Punchbowl News.
Their report says that McConnell did four things at his private Senate Republican meeting on Wednesday night.
- McConnell announced that the time and the political will to pass a bipartisan immigration and border security compromise is running out and may have run out already.
- He is backing away from the border-Kyiv construct because funds for Ukraine are a cold, hard necessity.
- The Senate Minority Leader is leaving the Ukraine aid in an uncertain place.
- He is shifting some of the blame to Trump because he rejected the deal before it was official.
McConnell said that when the talks began, the Republicans were divided on the Ukraine aid but united on the immigration policy. Politics have changed, he said, because former President Donald Trump wants to run his campaign on immigration and does not approve of the bill they’ve put together. He said he doesn’t want to undermine Donald Trump’s campaign.
[The bill that they were looking at would allow 5000 illegal aliens each day. Just so you know, if they feel they can limit it to 5000, they could limit it to almost nothing as well. Biden‘s administration would add 22,000 border agents and more judges to decide on the spot who could enter (on the spot?). Those two additions would have the effect of processing the illegal aliens faster. Then there’s a problem of whether they would really limit it to 5000 a day. There is no way to control what this administration does. They don’t even follow the law]
McConnell is looking at another approach to securing Ukraine aid, but some Republicans want it cut.
McConnell blames Trump for bashing the tentative deal before it was formally released. Trump wants to build a wall and deport millions of people. McConnell said there’s no way that’s going to happen. He called it quixotic.
Punchbowl News said the Democrats now have a great talking point. They will say they made huge concessions on parole and asylum, and Trump tanked it. Punchball said this gives them a much better space politically. [That’s true, but they didn’t even agree to go back to following immigration law as written.]
They’re unsure as to what Schumer and the White House will do for Ukraine; whether it will be a separate bill or moved along with Israel aid and aid to Taiwan.
What is clear, and this isn’t coming from Punchbowl, is Democrats will not follow immigration law as written and will only do the bare minimum on the border. They still want to let 5000 unvetted people in every day.
The bill that the left and leftist media tout as “hardline,” HR 2, adds a border wall and e-verify. Mostly, it brings back the immigration law that was already passed. Greedy corporations don’t want it because they want cheap labor. Democrats don’t want it because they want to transform the entire country into California blue and forever hold a permanent electoral majority.
Democrats want amnesty with a path to citizenship for every illegal here, which would turn the country blue, and only Democrats would win a presidential from then on.
We now have 10,000 unvetted people a day coming in from 170 countries. Texas is now a minority-majority state, and George Soros and Beto – Robert Francis O’Rourke – are funding PACs to turn Texas blue.