Republican Senators Rebel Against McConnell’s Border Scheme

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) faced open rebellion by outraged Republican senators over an immigration bill many accuse of being a blatant surrender to President Joe Biden’s open border policy.

Punchbowl News reported Wednesday that the senator conveyed to a group of GOP colleagues “that the politics of the border has flipped for Republicans and cast doubt on linking Ukraine and [the] border.”

Referring to former President Donald Trump as “the nominee,” McConnell told lawmakers that “we don’t want to do anything to undermine him.”

One Republican senator followed up the party leader’s remarks by observing that “the border portion is dead.” The legislator said McConnell encountered much more political resistance than he anticipated.

The anonymous source said, “This has gotten to be a lot more politically difficult than he thought it would be. That sounded like the first step toward saying, ‘We just can’t get this done.”

Then the senator added, “I predict the border part falls off.”

A group of seven GOP senators on Wednesday held a press conference on the contentious border issue. They blasted the Minority Leader’s emphasis on guarding the borders of Ukraine over ending the relentless invasion by millions into the U.S.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) declared that the bill was dead on arrival. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) added that “the problem is that our leader, Leader McConnell, is really the stage manager of this negotiation.”

In a Wednesday reversal, the Kentucky Republican floated the idea of dividing aid for Ukraine from border concerns.

McConnell focused much recent energy on Ukraine funding, a program that grows more controversial among his colleagues by the day. But his wavering on connecting military aid and the border did not diminish his effort to funnel billions more to the Kyiv war effort.

The Minority Leader and other moderate Republicans pushed the compromise as “huge win.” They attempted to sell getting White House concessions on border security for more taxpayer dollars to Ukraine.

But conservatives lined up in opposition, and former President Donald Trump is also believed to be against the deal. As he is the GOP’s likely presidential nominee, McConnell must realize it would be unwise to spark such a major rift in party ranks.