Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., tried to remain upbeat Monday about the Senate's partisan border security bill during an appearance on Newsmax despite House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., having said the legislation is "dead on arrival" in the House.
Lankford was the top Republican negotiator for the $118 billion bipartisan border security bill, unveiled Sunday, that also would provide aid to Ukraine and Israel.
Johnson took to X on Sunday to say the bill was "even worse than we expected."
Despite the speaker's "dead on arrival" remark, Lankford said House Republicans should work to improve the bill.
"Let's let the House and the Senate, let's actually work this out," Lankford told "Wake Up America" co-hosts Rob Finnerty and Sharla McBride. "Let's not do nothing. Let's actually figure it out.
"There's a part you don't like? Then let's have an amendment, let's take that out. If it's a part that you want to add, let's add it in. But if we sit and do nothing and allow millions of people to come in and allow a national security crisis that we've all called the national security crisis to just keep going, I think that's our problem."
Lankford was asked if he had spoken with Johnson after the speaker's comments on social media.
"We've had some communication back and forth on it," Lankford said. "We'll continue to be able to talk.
"My focus is let's edit what we need to edit. Let's have amendments. Let's actually open the process up. Let's fix what we can. But let's not just do nothing. That's the worst-case scenario for the future of the American people."
Newsmax reported that provisions in the Senate bill include speeding up the asylum process, closing the border after 4,000 encounters per day, and ending the "catch and release" policy.
"The bill itself actually dramatically changes the way we handle asylum so that people don't qualify for asylum initially," Lankford said. "It also changes the timeline. Right now, you're released in the country for 10 years in the backlog. It flips that and actually turns that around to weeks or days to be able to turn people around.
"What I was looking for is an authority that's going to catch most [migrants] every day. We've had only seven days in the last four months that were less than 5,000, which means this border would have been closed down all of the last four months in the way that was actually built. Instead of having a million people in would have had a million people actually deported."
Lankford was asked how would he convince House Republicans to vote for the bill.
"There are some folks in the House and in the Senate that are saying, 'Hey, I don't want to do anything, because if we fix the border now or if we make change in the border now it hurts [former President Donald] Trump in his election, so they're focused on the political issues rather than national security issues," he said. "I get that.
"There's some that say, 'I want a lot more than what we actually got. But what we're getting in a Democrat Senate and with a Democrat president is a dramatic shift in the asylum laws, closing off those loopholes that have been a problem for President Trump in the past, and certainly have been an issue for this president cause he's chosen not to enforce the law.
"But I want people to be able to read it, review it. Not just go off of a Facebook post that they see but to actually see the real details. I think that will make a difference into say, 'Should we do nothing and then just hope this gets better or should we do as much as we can possibly do, then go back and get more?'"
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Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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