Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Wednesday said a bipartisan deal in the upper chamber regarding the southern border would pressure House Republicans to get on board.
Schumer spoke to reporters on the same day as Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and more than 60 House Republicans visited Eagle Pass, Texas, to draw attention to the migrant crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Biden administration is trying to pass a supplemental spending package to provide aid to Ukraine and Israel, but conservatives are demanding sweeping immigration reform that helps address the migrant crisis.
"What I'd say to the House is, it's very nice you go to the border," Schumer said, Forbes reported, "but the way to get something done is work, as we are in the Senate, on a bipartisan solution to the border crisis, which will then unlock money for Ukraine, Israel, the Indo-Pacific and humanitarian [aid] and for the people in Gaza."
Schumer said Senate negotiators on Capitol Hill were trying to agree to a southern border deal, and added that administration officials were "closely involved."
"We're making progress. We're closer than we have been, but this is a very difficult issue and there's still different issues to be overcome with," said Schumer, who added that a Senate deal would put "enormous pressure on the House to get something done as well."
Schumer said House Republicans must soften their stance that an agreement includes the lower-chamber approved H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, which, among other things, requires the Department of Homeland Security to resume constructing a wall along the border and limits asylum eligibility to non-U.S. nationals.
"As I said, the only way we're going to get any of this done is in a bipartisan way," Schumer said. "When the House clings to H.R.2 as the only solution, which every Democrat has voted against … we're not going to get a deal.
"We're willing to meet the Republicans a good part of the way. I think now in the last few days, many Republicans have begun to realize that we are willing to do that and how serious we are about getting this done."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics show that in November there were 242,418 migrant encounters, the third highest official number since the crisis began in January 2021.
A CBP source told Newsmax on Monday that in December there were about 302,000 encounters at the southern border, surpassing the monthly record of 269,735 set in September.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.