House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday that legislation being hammered out by Senate negotiators is “not enough” to secure the southern border, reaffirming that the long-awaited deal to tie border security to foreign aid faces an uncertain fate in the House.
Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, also told reporters that former President Donald Trump, the likely GOP presidential nominee, is not dictating decisions in Congress about the legislation. He called the accusation that Mr. Trump is influencing negotiations to help his campaign “absurd.”
Senate negotiators have yet to produce legislation from the border talks, and Mr. Johnson said “it’s hard to make a judgment” on a bill that has not been released.
He said during the House GOP’s weekly press conference that leaks of the inner workings of the bill, such as thresholds of 5,000 illegal crossing per day for a week triggering authority to shut down the border, would not fly in the House.
“I hope some of this is not true, but from what we’ve seen, clearly, what’s been suggested, is in this bill, is not enough to secure the border,” Mr. Johnson said.
Mr. Johnson has insisted that Congress does not need to pass a law for President Biden to take action on the border, arguing that the president could enact more stringent border policy by reviving Trump-era policies that Mr. Biden reversed when he took office.
Mr. Biden vowed last week that he is ready to make major changes to border security but needed the tools from Congress to do so.
House Republicans have stood firm that the only way they would support the border deal is if it included the Secure the Border Act, or H.R. 2, which revives Mr. Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, would retool asylum authority and stop the Biden administration’s catch-and-release practices.
But details of the Senate package suggest otherwise, and Republicans contend it would do little to curb the flow of illegal migrants.
“We have a responsibility of duty to the American people to insist that the border catastrophe is ended,” Mr. Johnson said. “And just trying to whitewash that or do something for political purposes, that it appears that [package] may be, is not going to cut it and that’s a non-starter in the House.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump’s presence has loomed large over the border package after the presumptive GOP presidential nominee cast doubt on the leaked details of the deal.
Mr. Johnson said that he has spoken about the border issue several times with Mr. Trump and noted that securing the border has been one of the former president’s key planks in his platform since he first ran for office in 2016.
He also referred to the reality in the House, where Republicans hold a one-vote majority over Democrats.
“We’re trying to use every ounce of leverage that we have to make sure that this issue is addressed,” Mr. Johnson said.