Misery: Democrats forced to choose between Ukraine and open borders
In the Senate, the GOP is doing what good politicians do and calling for some political horse-trading so that Joe Biden can get his $105 billion supplementary foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan through Congress.
That's too much for the Democrats.
Not the money, of course, but the surprise need to cut a deal.
According to Politico:
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer plans to hold a vote on President Joe Biden’s request for billions in assistance for Ukraine and Israel as soon as the week of Dec. 4, aiming to create some urgency amid tough negotiations.
The announcement by Schumer on Sunday puts pressure on lawmakers to come up with a border security deal that can pair with much-needed assistance for the two U.S. allies. Senate Republicans are seeking border security policy changes as part of any supplemental spending bill, hoping such a deal could clear a Ukraine-reluctant House GOP majority.
Schumer blamed that border demand as the “biggest holdup” to delivering new funds to Ukraine’s defense against Russia and Israel’s war with Hamas.“This has injected a decades old, hyper-partisan issue into overwhelmingly bipartisan priorities,” Schumer said in a Dear Colleague letter to senators. The Democratic leader said his 51-member caucus was “ready to work on common-sense solutions to address immigration” but warned that if the GOP took too hard a line, it could “jeopardize the entire” supplemental bill.
So they want billions and billions in assistance to foreign countries, such as Ukraine, which is not a NATO country, but a big hog wallow for the U.S. foreign policy consulting establishment, nearly all Democrats, drawing lots of "contracts," if not losing track of the money entirely, as a top Ukrainian official admitted, but they refuse to lift a finger to halt Joe Biden's open-borders policies, which have created untold misery on city streets as migrants are dumped, human trafficking networks are empowered, cartels are growing so rich they are driving Mexicans out of their homes, families are being separated and broken up and kids sold into slavery based on Biden's immigration incentives, migrants ae dying en route through dangerous crossings, illegal alien crime is growing, and Democrat-led cities are seeing their budgets blown out and vital police and fire services cut.
They don't like making deals with Republicans even if it means they get all they want.
And they're so used to the GOP caving in on them that they consider it an entitlement.
None of that is worth saving America from. Open borders is more important, at least as important as shoveling cash at Ukraine in a war without results, and that explains the unwillingness to compromise.
Of course, there are the extended work hours, too, which upsets them mightily:
[Schumer] also urged Democrats to engage more with Republicans to try to cut a deal, something he also tried to do right before the Thanksgiving recess. He warned of long nights and days ahead, as well as possible weekend work.
Worse still, they care so little about this open border they don't even notice that the polls are not running in their favor as illegal immigration brought on by open borders take a leading spot among voters' concerns. You'd think that would make them willing to play ball just to retain their seats, but nooo, open borders are an untouchable third rail for them.
It all makes them howl in misery and complain about "the biggest holdup" coming from the GOP and how unfair it is that they have to compromise on anything.
What is this compromise the Republicans are asking for in exchange for their votes to pass the spending package?
According to news accounts, the GOP is seeking legal changes to the definition of "asylum" such as it's practiced now so that only actual asylum cases of some level of merit will be considered. It won't just be claims about living in a bad neighborhood and wanting a better life, the types of asylum claims that regularly are thrown out once they reach a judge some ten years from now and the illegal migrant has long disappeared into U.S. society. Processing of U.S. asylum claims in a timely manner and according to U.S. capacity to process them could also be on the horse-trading list. Don't have enough personnel? Then applicants will have to apply to another country, and there are more than a hundred of them.
Such changes are reasonable if the GOP does not cave in, and would actually benefit Democrats too, though they see a bigger benefit in leaving the border open.
Now they have to choose -- aid to Ukraine, or defense of the U.S. border, which do they want more?
It's enough to make a Democrat go crazy, given their fondness for shoveling money to other countries to guard their borders while depriving the U.S. of any such capacity.
Hear how they whine.
The GOP is to be commended for finally taking its political role seriously and calling for Democrats to cough up on basic defense for the U.S. instead of just everyone else. Whether the Democrats can handle that tells us pretty much all we need to know about their priorities and political prowess.
Image: U.S. Department of State (cropped) / government work