House Speaker Mike Johnson has already called the proposal “dead on arrival” if it passes the Senate, but Biden urged the Republican speaker to “pay attention to what the Senate’s doing.”
Biden, speaking to reporters at a Las Vegas meeting with members of a culinary union, noted that Congress has not approved his funding requests for more Border Patrol agents and immigration judges to handle the number of migrants. “We need help,” he said. “Why won’t they give me the help?”
The White House has also said Biden would veto a House bill that would only send military aid to Israel, criticizing it as a “cynical political maneuver” that excludes funding for Ukraine, the border and other national security needs.
Johnson, along with the rest of the House’s top GOP leaders, said in a joint statement Monday they were opposed to the legislation because “it fails in every policy area needed to secure our border and would actually incentivize more illegal immigration.”
The statement from Johnson and Reps. Steve Scalise, Tom Emmer and Elise Stefanik pointed to a provision in the bill that would grant work authorizations to migrants who qualify to enter the asylum system. They also argued that it would endorse a “catch and release” policy by placing migrants who enter the asylum system in a monitoring program while they await the final decision on their asylum claim.
Under the proposal, migrants who seek asylum would face a tougher and faster process to having their claim evaluated. The standard in initial interviews would be raised, and many would receive those interviews within days of arriving at the border. Final decisions on their asylum claims would happen within months, rather than the often years-long wait that happens now.
The National Border Patrol Council, the union that represents Border Patrol agents, on Monday endorsed the proposal and said it would drop illegal border crossings nationwide. The group in 2020 endorsed in Trump and has been highly critical of Biden’s border policies.
But the House Republican leaders said, “Any consideration of this Senate bill in its current form is a waste of time.”
Still, the GOP’s chief negotiator on the bill, Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, implored his colleagues to take another look at the legislation and even expressed openness to re-opening negotiations.
“Right now it’s work in progress,” he told reporters. “So I’m not willing to do a funeral on it -- the House side, they’ve already conducted the funeral.”
Several Democrats have also come out against the bill and take issue with the restrictions on asylum seekers. Immigration advocates have also said the bill would cut off important due process rights for people who have fled to the U.S. to escape often harrowing violence.
But Democrats have largely warmed to the idea of tougher border measures.
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, the lead Democratic negotiator for the bill, said, “I think this country is crying out for the parties to stop fighting over immigration and just get something done that’s going to better control the border and fix our broken immigration system.”
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Associated Press writers Darlene Superville in Las Vegas and Kevin Freking in Washington contributed.