Sen. Mike Lee of Utah seems to be ginning up a division among Republicans in the Senate after a group of senators released its bipartisan deal on the border and Ukraine on Sunday. The $118 billion package, which includes wartime aid to Ukraine, Israel, and other allies, was tied to negotiated border security measures. Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson very quickly called the bill “even worse than we expected,” saying the bill would be “dead on arrival” in the House. Majority Leader Steve Scalise promised the bill would not even receive a vote in the House.
Lee, who expressed skepticism of the bill long before it was unveiled, quickly went to X (formerly Twitter) to write, “Senate GOP leadership screwed this up—and screwed us.” Saying that any support for the bill would be “unpatriotic,” Lee ended his attack on GOP leadership by proclaiming, “This is a disqualifying betrayal.”
According to Punchbowl News’ Andrew Desiderio, the fireworks aren’t just happening in the public sphere. Lee’s staff was reportedly “yelling” at Republican Sen. James Lankford’s team after their presentation of the bill.
Lee has proceeded to repost other Senate Republicans’ denouncements of the bill, including Eric Schmitt of Missouri and Steve Daines of Montana.
Republican leadership has denied it is taking its marching orders directly from Donald Trump, who has very publicly attacked the concept of a border deal. But their preemptive attacks on any immigration legislation, and the fact that the Senate’s bipartisan bill could be considered a huge policy victory for conservatives, show how beholden they are to Trump.
For his part, Trump has been spending his time on failed social media platform Truth Social posting polls purporting to show he outperforms Joe Biden on border security, attacking Nikki Haley, and writing, “Only a fool, or a Radical Left Democrat, would vote for this horrendous Border Bill.”
On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he was optimistic the bipartisan bill will still pass through the Senate—even with the “right-wing Trump part of the party” continuing to gum up the works. “Will the senators drown out the political noise from Trump and his minions and do the right thing for America? It’s a crucial question. History will is looking down on every one of us right now.”
The fact that Senate Republicans could be this divided on the border package is extraordinary. This bill, which Democratic critics say could effectively shut down our asylum program for the next year while doing nothing progressive to resolve our immigration processes, is a right-wing xenophobe’s dream when it comes to “compromise.”
The fact that a two-time popular vote loser like Trump can dictate his party’s decision-making, even while facing prosecution for sedition and corruption and racketeering, is a damning indictment of the GOP.
It is primary season, and Donald Trump seems pretty low energy these days. Kerry and Markos talk about the chances of Trump stumbling through the election season and the need to press our advantage and make gains in the House and Senate. Meanwhile, the right-wing media world is losing its collective minds about Taylor Swift registering younger Americans to vote!
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Lee, who expressed skepticism of the bill long before it was unveiled, quickly went to X (formerly Twitter) to write, “Senate GOP leadership screwed this up—and screwed us.” Saying that any support for the bill would be “unpatriotic,” Lee ended his attack on GOP leadership by proclaiming, “This is a disqualifying betrayal.”
According to Punchbowl News’ Andrew Desiderio, the fireworks aren’t just happening in the public sphere. Lee’s staff was reportedly “yelling” at Republican Sen. James Lankford’s team after their presentation of the bill.
Lee has proceeded to repost other Senate Republicans’ denouncements of the bill, including Eric Schmitt of Missouri and Steve Daines of Montana.
Republican leadership has denied it is taking its marching orders directly from Donald Trump, who has very publicly attacked the concept of a border deal. But their preemptive attacks on any immigration legislation, and the fact that the Senate’s bipartisan bill could be considered a huge policy victory for conservatives, show how beholden they are to Trump.
For his part, Trump has been spending his time on failed social media platform Truth Social posting polls purporting to show he outperforms Joe Biden on border security, attacking Nikki Haley, and writing, “Only a fool, or a Radical Left Democrat, would vote for this horrendous Border Bill.”
On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he was optimistic the bipartisan bill will still pass through the Senate—even with the “right-wing Trump part of the party” continuing to gum up the works. “Will the senators drown out the political noise from Trump and his minions and do the right thing for America? It’s a crucial question. History will is looking down on every one of us right now.”
The fact that Senate Republicans could be this divided on the border package is extraordinary. This bill, which Democratic critics say could effectively shut down our asylum program for the next year while doing nothing progressive to resolve our immigration processes, is a right-wing xenophobe’s dream when it comes to “compromise.”
The fact that a two-time popular vote loser like Trump can dictate his party’s decision-making, even while facing prosecution for sedition and corruption and racketeering, is a damning indictment of the GOP.
It is primary season, and Donald Trump seems pretty low energy these days. Kerry and Markos talk about the chances of Trump stumbling through the election season and the need to press our advantage and make gains in the House and Senate. Meanwhile, the right-wing media world is losing its collective minds about Taylor Swift registering younger Americans to vote!
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Campaign Action