Biden accused Trump of threatening and intimidating Republican members of Congress (Reuters)

Washington -

US President Joe Biden held his predecessor, Donald Trump, responsible for the ongoing crisis within Congress over the security issue of the southern border with Mexico and the provision of a huge aid package to Ukraine and Israel. In statements he made at the White House on Tuesday, Biden blamed Trump for the collapse of Republican support for reaching the agreement.

Biden noted that the $118 billion bill was the result of months of “extraordinary effort” by a bipartisan group of senators, and represented “the fairest and most humane reforms to our immigration system in a long time and the most difficult set of reforms to secure the border.” Absolutely".

Look for Trump

Biden's appeal came at a time when more Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate expressed their opposition to the agreement negotiated by a joint bipartisan committee headed by Democratic Senator Chris Murphy and Republican Senator James Lankford to resolve the crisis during the past months.

In recent hours, an increasing number of Republican senators showed opposition to the agreement after Trump attacked it, and considered it a positive addition to Biden's electoral fortunes.

Trump does not want to reach a solution, even a temporary one, to the immigration crisis, as he considers the continuation of the crisis to be the backbone of the success of his presidential election campaign.

In this context, Biden said, "All indications indicate that this bill will not advance further to the Senate floor. Why? A simple reason, Donald Trump, because he believes it is bad for him politically."

Biden continued, "So during the past 24 hours, Trump did nothing, but he communicated with Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate, threatened them and tried to intimidate them into voting against this proposal, and they seem to be acquiescing. Frankly, they owe it to the American people to show some courage, and do what they know is right." .

Trump does not want to reach a solution to the immigration crisis, as he considers the continuation of the crisis a success for his presidential campaign (Reuters)

Agreement and then back down

After months of negotiations over a massive aid package for Ukraine and Israel that Republicans linked to a tougher policy toward securing the southern border, top Republicans are now calling for a stand-alone foreign aid package because they now oppose adding a tougher border policy they had previously called for.

However, legislative efforts to bring the two parties together are faltering, especially after all Republicans in the House of Representatives voted in favor of removing Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who is the minister responsible for border security and immigration.

The Senate began the week with a dispute over the national security bill, the text of which was published last Sunday, and included financial allocations agreed upon by both parties in response to the Republican Party’s demands that Democrats link border policy changes to President Biden’s request for military aid to Israel and Ukraine.

By Monday night, Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, the lead Republican negotiator for the Senate deal, expected the deal to fall apart, which it appears to be doing.

After representatives of the two parties came close to announcing agreement on a deal and compromises, the deal apparently began to collapse at the hands of former President Trump. Republican Party leaders in the House of Representatives declared it a "dead and done deal before it arrived."

The failure of the package, which includes immigration policy points that Republicans have previously called for, such as allocating nearly $20 billion more for border security and raising the threshold for asylum claims, would cast doubt on Congress' ability to get anything done on border security. Or foreign aid before the presidential elections next November.

Democratic Senator from Connecticut, Chris Murphy, said that the procedural vote next Wednesday will likely mark the end of the bipartisan effort to address the border crisis, and said that Republicans “have moved away from the old plan, and they will walk away from any new plans.”

The shift has left senators from both parties discussing plans to return to the original plan from last year to try to pass funding for Ukraine, Israel and humanitarian aid separately.

Chuck Schumer is angry about some Republican senators backing out of the agreement (French)

Republican Representatives vs. Democratic Senators

After these developments, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer angrily said, “Senators are elected to vote, not to fear, run away, and make excuses when it comes to voting on difficult issues.”

On the other hand, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, stressed that “Republicans simply cannot vote in favor of the bill in good conscience.”

He pointed out that the proposed legislation does not do enough to secure the borders, pointing out that President Biden already has legal authority to address the increase in migrants and their irregular flow, but he does not use it. Instead of considering legislation submitted by the Senate, Republicans in the House of Representatives will introduce a single bill to provide military aid to Israel, but this proposal seems unlikely to pass, as the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, will reject it.

Johnson told reporters that aid to Israel "cannot wait any longer, and must be passed separately from aid to Ukraine."

It is worth noting that the Pentagon warns that the Ukrainian forces are running out of ammunition and other resources now that US funding ended weeks ago. However, Democrats reject the idea of ​​separating aid to Ukraine from aid to Israel, and pledged to obstruct Johnson’s initiative, and considered this step merely a “clear and cynical attempt” to undermine the two-party agreement in Senate.

Source: Al Jazeera