House Majority Leader Steve Scalise's, R-La., aide on Thursday told a group of Senate Republican chiefs of staff that a bipartisan Senate deal pairing border enforcement measures and Ukraine has zero chance of passing the lower chamber if the bill includes specific measures, reports CNN.
Brett Horton mentioned expedited work permits for asylum-seeking migrants and enhanced expulsion authority that would only kick in after migrant border crossings exceed 5,000 people a day as a point of contention.
"Scalise's chief got up and the first thing he said was, 'This border bill, if you send it to us, is dead on arrival. Dead.' He said, 'I just want to be clear about that, we will not take it up, we will not vote on it. It is dead. End of discussion,'" a Senate Republican source familiar with the comments told the Hill.
"So that sent a message."
Senate negotiators have been striving to finish a carefully negotiated compromise on border and immigration policy to cut down on illegal migration and bolster border security. But as negotiations have dragged on for weeks, election-year politics and demands from former President Donald Trump have begun weighing it down.
At stake is a plan that both President Joe Biden and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell have worked for months to broker in hopes of cajoling Congress to approve wartime aid for Ukraine. The U.S. has run out of money to supply Ukraine, potentially leaving the country stranded without robust supplies of ammunition and missiles to fend off Russia's invasion.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.