As recently as October, the original plan on Capitol Hill was to respond to international crises abroad with a U.S. aid package that would benefit, among others, our Ukrainian allies. Congressional Republicans rejected that plan, replacing it with a radical plot: GOP officials said they’d only consider an aid package if Democrats agreed to a dramatic overhaul of immigration and border policies.
As regular readers know, the goal was to force Democrats to the negotiating table, and the gambit worked like a charm: Democrats not only agreed to months of talks, they also — to the surprise of Senate Republicans — accepted a great many concessions in the hopes of striking a compromise deal.
That deal is now done and publicly available. NBC News reported overnight:
Senators released the long-awaited text of a bipartisan agreement to impose tougher immigration and asylum laws Sunday, as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer eyes votes on the package this week.
There’s no shortage of moving parts to this, so let’s do some Q&A.
What’s in the bill?
The 370-page package covers an enormous amount of ground, and Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, the top Democratic negotiator, released what his office described as “a one pager” that’s actually five pages. (There’s also a 14-page section-by-section overview available.)
That said, the $118 billion legislation, co-authored by Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma and independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, is largely in line with recent reporting. In addition to aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, the package overhauls the existing asylum system, increases border security, increases funding for deportations, and increases funding for detention centers. There’s even some money for new border barriers and changes to the U.S. fight against fentanyl.
NBC News’ report added that the agreement “would be the most aggressive border security and migration overhaul bill in decades if it passes Congress. It would…
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