“I have never worked more closely with Leader [Mitch] McConnell on any piece of legislation as we did on this‚” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer about the miserable‚ worse-than-even-expected legislation the Senate is attempting to force down the throat of the House of Representatives and‚ by extension‚ the American people. READ MORE: The Marxism Behind the Open Border And they will force the bill down the House’s throat — or at least attempt to‚ because the Republican leadership in the Senate almost certainly has nine of its 49 members willing to vote for this catastrophic betrayal of our national security and rule of law. As soon as the ninth Republican senator caves to McConnell’s pressure and the bill is passed with a filibuster-proof majority on Wednesday‚ it will become the House’s problem. We’ll get to the dynamics of that in a minute. Why is this bill so awful? Well‚ here’s an overview of what’s in it: Breaking News: The Bipartisan Border Bill negotiated by Republican Senator James Lankford has officially been released1. $60 billion in military aid to Ukraine2. $14 billion in military aid to Israel 3. $20 billion for border security pic.twitter.com/rzZsyLVAPT — The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) February 5‚ 2024 Just from that summary‚ you can tell this is a slap in the face to the American people. This tells you that we’re now going to fund both sides of the Israel–Gaza conflict and‚ in so doing‚ prolong that war rather than giving the Israelis the green light to finish it. We’re also funding‚ with $2.3 billion of your money‚ the NGOs that are busily supplying “refugees fleeing persecution‚” otherwise known as economic migrants headed to our border to break our laws‚ with bus tickets‚ smartphones‚ and places to stay along the route from the Darién Gap to Eagle Pass. By the way‚ speaking of the Darién Gap‚ you really ought to watch Tucker Carlson’s interview with Bret Weinstein‚ published last week‚ about the latter’s trip to Panama to see what’s actually happening along the trek to our border. Once you have‚ you’ll realize just how scandalous a betrayal this all is. And in this monstrosity of a bill‚ there’s $20.3 billion to “expand capabilities at our nation’s borders‚” which is Swampese for more money to process illegals into the country. That summary is bad enough. The bill’s details are infinitely‚ infinitely worse. How bad does this get? Well‚ the 5‚000-illegals-a-day threshold at which the president is suddenly given emergency authority to do things he’s already authorized to do is in there; when James Lankford‚ the Mitch McConnell stooge who “negotiated” this bill along with Democrats Chris Murphy and Kyrsten Sinema (she’s calling herself an independent now‚ but nobody is fooled by that)‚ griped last week that unfair press had caused the backlash against the bill‚ this was one of the items included in that discussion. Now we find out that Lankford was trying to pull a fast one on the American people: And there it is… what Sinema and Lankford swore wasn’t in the bill. It guarantees that up to 1.8 million illegal aliens can come over our border before it’s an emergency pic.twitter.com/i05pNH29YV — Ryan James Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) February 5‚ 2024 Except even as bad as that threshold — which should be one illegal per day‚ not 5‚000 — clearly is‚ it isn’t even a mandate. The president isn’t obligated to shut down the border when illegal migration hits a pace of 1.8 million per year; it’s his discretion to do so: Not only does this bill codify 1.5 million illegal border crossings into law‚ but the "border emergency" that automatically gets implemented at 5‚000 crossings per day in a week can be overturned by Joe Biden. And in case 1.5 million illegals isn't enough‚ it also locks in green… pic.twitter.com/pZRV4iymph — Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 5‚ 2024 So this does absolutely nothing in the way of creating emergency powers to control the border. Here’s what Chris Murphy says about this: A requirement the President to funnel asylum claims to the land ports of entry when more than 5‚000 people cross a day. The border never closes‚ but claims must be processed at the ports. “The border never closes.” Murphy is actually out there trying to sell this thing‚ and he tells you the border never closes. What else? There’s plenty. We’ve got this: Puts far left DC district court in charge pic.twitter.com/sU8VKtvkXh — Mike Howell (@MHowellTweets) February 4‚ 2024 Great idea routing all the litigation on this to the D.C. Circuit‚ which is full of pro-illegal-alien left-wing judges. Top-notch negotiation there. Every minor speed bump in the way of unlimited illegal immigration is going to be sued on by leftist activist groups and then struck down in courts far away from where the surrender is happening. It’s supposedly a win that we’re going to shorten the lag time for the asylum claimants to get their hearings. How’s that going to happen? Instead of going before a judge‚ they’ll now go before the United States Citizens and Immigration Services department. In other words‚ the Biden administration. So there’s your fast-track amnesty‚ right there. Then there’s the fact that this bill encumbers the next president‚ as Murphy explains: 6/ But…important checks on that power. It can only be used for a limited number of days per year. It sunsets in 3 years. Emergency cases that show up in between the ports still need to be accepted. The ports must process a minimum of 1400 claims a day. — Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) February 4‚ 2024 So‚ until 2027‚ a President Donald Trump would still have to process 1‚400 illegals a day‚ or more than half a million a year. Oh‚ but there’s money to build a wall! Yeah — about $650 million‚ which will get you a couple of dozen miles‚ and that’s it. There’s a provision allowing for a quarter-million more employment and family reunification visas over the next five years‚ which means (1) downward pressure on wages for American citizens in low-skill jobs amid an inflationary economy‚ and (2) more anchor babies exactly when the public is waking up to that scam. The intended payee for the new visa bloom‚ the U.S. Chamber of Commerce‚ was quite gushy over this provision: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pleased to see desperately needed border security‚ asylum‚ and immigration reforms included in the emergency supplemental funding proposal before the U.S. Senate. The economic disruption and human suffering wrought by our border crisis have become so severe that Congress cannot afford to ignore these problems any longer. We look forward to working with Members of Congress to pass these commonsense measures that will improve America’s security by addressing our southern border and supporting Ukraine and Israel. And a few more poison pills: .@SenatorLankford @SenMikeRounds So much for liars‚ internet rumors‚ and Russian propaganda. Everything we reported would be in the bill three weeks ago‚ is in the bill. We'll be awaiting your apologies.. pic.twitter.com/7d6n3twFAE — Immigration Accountability Project (@I_A_Project) February 5‚ 2024 Additionally‚ the bill codifies Catch and Release‚ which would bar a President Trump from issuing blanket deportations to illegals who would fraudulently claim asylum. So‚ yes‚ this bill is hot garbage. It’s literally one of the worst pieces of legislation ever to ooze to the Senate floor‚ and that’s saying something. This bill signifies a total surrender on border security disguised as a sloppy effort to bolster it. Why on earth would Mitch McConnell — Lankford is being blamed for this bill as its Republican “negotiator‚” and he shouldn’t escape one iota of scorn for his role in this noxious farce‚ but let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that Lankford is anything other than a puppet or stooge of McConnell’s‚ as Schumer’s quote above makes clear — inflict this on us? I’ll tell you why. It’s not complicated. This is aimed at two things. First — and this is a subject I’m guessing other great minds here at The American Spectator will pick up on‚ so I won’t have to go into detail — it’s an attack on Donald Trump and an attempt to marginalize him politically for his opposition to this “bipartisan” deal. The narrative that McConnell has created by crafting this Trojan horse is that Joe Biden has engaged productively in coming up with a “comprehensive” solution to the problem of immigration (which Biden himself created‚ of course)‚ and it’s Trump who is standing in the way of an adult compromise. But what’s also at work here is a bit of sabotage of House Speaker Mike Johnson‚ who has been steadfast in refusing to move anything remotely close to this bill. When the text of the legislation hit the internet on Sunday night‚ here was Johnson: I’ve seen enough. This bill is even worse than we expected‚ and won’t come close to ending the border catastrophe the President has created. As the lead Democrat negotiator proclaimed: Under this legislation‚ “the border never closes.” If this bill reaches the House‚ it will be… — Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) February 5‚ 2024 Johnson isn’t alone in that reaction: America Last‚ Ukraine First from the DC Swamp – literally. Their priorities are clear‚ as shown in the first section of the bill summary. pic.twitter.com/kfvHCpT88T — Rep. Dan Bishop (@RepDanBishop) February 5‚ 2024 Any Republican who votes for this will betray the American people. pic.twitter.com/mYEm7StfS1 — Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) February 5‚ 2024 The Senate bill is awful! America‚ read from pages 212 to 217‚ and you will see why. There have to be 41 Republican Senators who will say NO to this monstrosity. @SpeakerJohnson‚ this bill should never get a vote in the House! pic.twitter.com/C92OWB3IKk — Byron Donalds (@ByronDonalds) February 5‚ 2024 This bill is the worst screwing in the Senate since that Dem staffer filmed his porno on Klobuchar’s desk. https://t.co/v8WDDcgaAf — Rep. Mike Collins (@RepMikeCollins) February 5‚ 2024 But it doesn’t matter how strong the bulk of the House GOP caucus is behind Johnson on this bill. Not in McConnell’s thinking. This is about marginalizing Johnson just as he’s marginalizing Trump. It’s about turning Johnson into the face of the border invasion‚ rather than Biden. You recognize that very quickly when you see what Johnson had to wade through in a Meet the Press interrogation at the hands of Swamp Monster Deluxe Kristen Welker on Sunday. Mitch McConnell is doing to Mike Johnson what he’s been doing to conservatives in Washington since 2007‚ when he became the GOP Senate caucus leader — sandbagging and sabotage. Negotiate a bill that destroys Republican credibility on an issue where the public is 2-to-1 or better on the GOP side of it‚ and then frame the honest defenders of the GOP position as extremists. And then‚ when a demoralized electorate fails to deliver victories to Republicans running for federal office‚ blame the conservative candidates. And when the smoke clears‚ and Republicans have a majority in neither body‚ or perhaps a razor-thin‚ unworkable majority in the House‚ it’s Mitch McConnell who’s the most important power broker in Washington. And Schumer can go on saying that he’s “never worked more closely” with Mitch McConnell to make policies abhorrent to the rule of law and the security of this nation. It’s a very old‚ very tired gag. But then‚ McConnell is very old and very tired and has no other cards to play. The post Chuck Schumer: ‘I Have Never Worked More Closely With Leader McConnell’ appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.