Schumer said he'll allow GOP to try to attach a border security amendment to the supplemental

Schumer said he’ll allow GOP to try to attach a border security amendment to the supplemental

Dec 05, 2023

Chuck Schumer has a new proposal for Republicans to try to attach border security to a supplemental spending package that includes new funds for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The Senate GOP is already panning the idea.

Calling it a “golden opportunity” for Republicans, Schumer said he’d allow them to offer a border security amendment of their choosing at a 60-vote threshold.

“I will not interfere with them drawing up an amendment, but it will need 60 votes like any amendment would,” he said at a weekly press conference. “If they vote no on the motion to proceed, it shows that [Republicans] are not serious about getting something done on border and on Ukraine.”

Schumer added: “We’re not throwing our hands up in the air. We’re going to keep pursuing this.”

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell seemed to throw cold water on the idea, though, just as quickly as Schumer floated it.

“They don’t want to deal with border security in the context of the supplemental. We do because we know that will guarantee an outcome because the other parts of supplemental almost all of our members support,” he said at his own press conference. “We want it to actually happen.”

The Kentucky Republican nodded to President Joe Biden’s sagging poll numbers in urging him to embrace real policy reforms: “Honestly, if I were the president looking at my numbers on this, I’d want to do something about it. Might actually improve his position.”

The comments come as the chamber prepares for an initial vote Wednesday on the national security supplemental legislation, which Republicans are widely expected to block.

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