Senate Negotiators Seek Border Security Deal To Pair With Aid For Ukraine & Israel

A bipartisan group of Senate Republicans and Democrats are continuing their work this weekend on a compromise bill of changes to immigration policy to end the crisis at the southern U.S. border with Mexico, where tens of the thousand of migrants have tried to enter the country illegally.

Republicans have said they will not vote for President Joe Biden’s package of $100 billion in new aid for Ukraine and Israel unless it is paired with immigration reforms.

Previously, Biden said he would veto a proposed GOP aid package providing funding for Israel while slashing funds for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

In an extensive statement of administration policy, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) argued that the Republican aid package “inserts partisanship into support for Israel.”

The OMB added that the package failed to meet Biden’s standards due to its lack of humanitarian assistance for Gaza civilians and additional aid for Ukraine and other allies.

“This bill is bad for Israel, for the Middle East region, and for our national security,” said the OMB.

The OMB noted how the proposal breaks away from the usual bipartisan precedent by pursuing budget cuts in a national emergency security aid package.

“Congress has consistently worked in a bipartisan manner to provide security assistance to Israel, and this bill threatens to unnecessarily undermine that longstanding approach,” it said. “Bifurcating Israel’s security assistance from the other priorities in the national security supplemental will have global consequences.”

The GOP package that passed the House in November would provide $14.3 billion in aid for Israel in its current fight against Hamas after the militant group conducted a terrorist attack that occurred on October 7 that left  nearly 1,400 Israeli casualties.

The proposal would also cut IRS funding that was included in the Inflation Reduction Act that was signed last year. A government analysis found that this funding cut would actually increase the deficit rather than reduce it.