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A bipartisan bill introduced by a group of House members is a pale version of a more comprehensive immigration and foreign aid bill that stalled in the Senate. It would still be better than the current state of congressional inaction, however.
While the Defending Borders, Defending Democracies Act needs significant improvements, Rep. Jared Golden and the nine other members who have so far signaled their support for the bill deserve credit for keeping this needed conversation going. While their bill falls far short in many regards, it is a vehicle for needed — and long overdue — debates and legislating on the critical issues of immigration and foreign aid.
As the group says in a letter encouraging their House colleagues to sign on to the legislation, these issues are too critical to wait until after the November election for attention.
“Congress cannot abandon its responsibility for our national security and the protection of American interests abroad,” the group said in the Feb. 18 letter, referring to both border security and international conflicts, especially Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The group of 10 House members includes five Democrats and five Republicans.
We continue to believe that a bipartisan bill that was negotiated in the Senate is a better approach. However, opposition from Republicans in the Senate and House effectively killed that bill, which would have made many needed improvements to our immigration system while also providing military and financial support for our allies in Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
The international aid and immigration changes were packaged together in one bill at the request of Republicans, who said they would not support financial aid for Ukraine and Israel without additional security measures at the southern border. They later abandoned that approach and some c riticized the senator, Republican James Lankford of Oklahoma, who led negotiations on the Senate bill.
Likewise, a $95 billion standalone foreign aid package that was passed by the Senate last week offers a fuller approach to U.S. support for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, however, said he would not bring that bill to the House floor because it does not contain border security provisions. Remember, Republicans tanked the Senate bill that married foreign aid and border provisions, as Republicans had long said they wanted.
So, kudos to Golden and several House colleagues for trying again. On immigration, their bill is much more narrowly tailored. Their measure would essentially reinstate, for a year, an approach similar to the one used during the COVID pandemic known as Title 42. It would allow the expulsion of immigrants, often those seeking asylum in the U.S., who did not enter the country legally. It would also require that many asylum seekers remain in Mexico while their cases are pending.
Unlike the Senate bill, it does not improve the asylum process or include more funding for immigration judges. Nor does it offer a much-needed pathway to legal residency for Afghans, some of whom worked closely with the U.S. military, who had to flee after the U.S. withdrawal.
On international aid, the Defending Borders, Defending Democracies Act includes $66 billion for the Department of Defense for military aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. It does not include humanitarian aid, under the assumption that this funding could come from other future legislation.
“The country and world are watching whether the U.S. Congress is capable of addressing the critical issues in this measure,” Rep. Ed Case, a Democrat from Hawaii, said in a Feb. 16 press release. “An indefinite impasse in the House after the Senate has acted is not acceptable. Clearly any measure to break this impasse and pass Congress must be bipartisan. Our bill advances a direct answer to these issues that can be brought up immediately for full House consideration, including amendments on key issues like humanitarian aid which I fully support.”
This bill is far from perfect. It doesn’t address many pressing immigration needs and it falls short on international assistance. But in the absence of other ways forward, it offers an avenue for debate and action on two critical areas: border security and essential support for allies like Ukraine.