Republican US Senate border negotiator says party must decide next steps by Tuesday

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The lead Republican negotiator on a bipartisan U.S. Senate bill to tighten border security and provide aid to Ukraine said his caucus must decide by Tuesday whether to hold an open debate on the proposal, which some Prominent members have expressed opposition.

“If it doesn’t have support on both sides of the aisle, we shouldn’t do it,” Senator James Lankford told Reuters the day after the bill was unveiled after months of negotiations.

Prominent Republicans, including Donald Trump – who is the front-runner for his party’s presidential nomination – and House Speaker Mike Johnson have expressed strong opposition.

The bill includes $118 billion in new spending, including $60.06 billion to aid Ukraine fight Russian aggression, $14.1 billion for Israel in the war against Hamas and about $20 billion for new enforcement at the US-Mexico border. Billions of dollars are involved.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said the chamber will hold the first procedural vote on Wednesday on the bill, which would give the government emergency powers to deny entry to migrants crossing the border or immediately expel those who have already entered the US. Will give powers.

Lankford, who negotiated the bill with Democratic Senator Chris Murphy and Independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema, said he would support a plan to allow amendment votes on the bill in both the Senate and House.

“This bill is important, period. I’ve said from the beginning, if it doesn’t have support on both sides of the aisle, we shouldn’t do it,” Lankford said at the Capitol. “Both the Senate and the House should do what they want. The people should have some ownership. I certainly think there are areas that could be improved in the bill…let’s start the conversation.”

If the bill becomes law, it would mark the most significant changes to US immigration and border security in decades.

It also faces opposition from progressive Democrats, who are angry that the move does nothing to provide a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented people who have lived in the US for many years. There have been, including “Dreamer” immigrants who were brought here as children.

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone and Chizu Nomiyama)

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