
(LibertySociety.com) – The recent alleged bipartisan Senate border bill proved to be worse than initially thought after Senate leadership finally released the text on February 4. Despite claims by Oklahoma Republican Senator James Lankford, the bill would have allowed up to 5,000 migrants per day to cross for seven consecutive calendar days before the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could activate its border emergency authority. Even more egregious was another detail that Lankford failed to disclose, which was a provision that would have allowed up to 8,500 illegal migrant crossings in a single day before the DHS secretary could act.
Before the text of the bill was released, Lankford claimed during a Fox News interview that it “would be absolutely absurd” to believe that he would agree to 5,000 illegal migrant crossings per day. South Dakota Republican Senator Mike Rounds accused Russia of spreading disinformation about the bill to hinder Ukraine funding. Despite their attempts to shut down the so-called “Internet rumors,” other Republican lawmakers were shocked when they read the bill. Senator Mike Lee spent an entire evening dissecting the text online to show the public why the bill had been kept secret for so long.
After the bill failed to garner enough support to even bring to a vote, Senate leadership began crafting a new $95 billion foreign aid bill that would send $60 billion to Ukraine, $14 billion to Israel, $5 billion to Taiwan, and $9 billion for humanitarian aid to Gaza. Many Republicans spent the entire night holding up the vote by speaking continuously on the floor until their time expired. Just after 5 a.m. on February 13, the bill passed with the support of 70 senators. Two Democrats voted against the bill and 22 Republicans voted for its passage. However, House Speaker Mike Johnson already decided that the bill would never see the light of day in the lower chamber without the inclusion of funding to secure the southern border.
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