Speaker Johnson: Ukraine funding depends on ‘transformative change’ to border security

House Republicans are digging in with their demands to link aid to Ukraine to permanent changes to U.S. border policy.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Tuesday wrote to Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, pushing back on the Biden administration’s requests to hurry Ukraine aid.

In the letter, Johnson recalled an October meeting with administration officials including Young and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, during which the Speaker laid out preconditions for Republicans to support further aid to Ukraine.

“First, I explained that supplemental Ukraine funding is dependent upon enactment of transformative change to our nation’s border security laws,” Johnson wrote.

Border policy and Ukraine funding have become glued at the hip since Republicans supercharged border provisions in the administration’s original supplemental request, which included Ukraine, Israel, border security and aid to prop up security in the Indo-Pacific region.

Republicans say taking action on the border is necessary to unlock funding for Ukraine.

While the administration’s border requests were not well received by immigrant advocates, later demands by Senate Republicans participating in bipartisan talks crossed red lines by severely restricting asylum and immigration parole.

Those talks threatened to split Democrats apart, with groups such as the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) left out as their party contemplated severely curbing asylum.

Yet even the potential concessions that angered the CHC fell well short of Johnson’s vision.

Johnson’s letter touted H.R. 2, a Republican border security bill passed by the House earlier this year, as a starting point to define the sort of border policy requests the GOP wants to see. Democrats see many of the provisions in H.R. 2 as non-starters, and it was passed with no Democratic votes.

Johnson’s letter also reiterated Republican doubts about providing aid to Ukraine, regardless of border policy.

“Second, I explained that Congress and the American people must be provided with answers to our repeated questions concerning: the Administration’s strategy to prevail in Ukraine; clearly defined and obtainable objectives; transparency and accountability for U.S. taxpayer dollars invested there; and what specific resources are required to achieve victory and a sustainable peace,” Johnson wrote.

The Speaker’s letter underscores how far apart the sides are, days after Senate negotiations on the supplemental broke down.

Republicans and Democrats view the current border security crisis through nearly incompatible lenses: Republicans say U.S. humanitarian laws are spurring mass migration in the Western Hemisphere, but many Democrats say migration is happening regardless and humanitarian protections are a necessary safety valve.

Fundamentally, Republicans measure the problem by the number of migrants arriving at the border; Democrats measure it by the orderliness of migration and entry to the United States.

“With regard to the U.S. border, the need to regain operational control has never been more urgent and the American people deserve immediate action,” Johnson wrote.

The phrase “operational control” is defined in a 1996 law as the “prevention of all unlawful entries into the United States, including entries by terrorists, other unlawful aliens, instruments of terrorism, narcotics, and other contraband,” a bar that’s set too high according to most border enforcement experts.

But it’s a bar Republicans have used to slam the Biden administration, and a fundamental part of efforts to impeach Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

By sticking to the House GOP’s right flank on border demands, Johnson is sending a message to the Senate that a supplemental resembling the administration’s first proposal is dead in the water in the House.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) moved forward a bill to advance the supplemental package Monday, even as bipartisan talks on Ukraine and border security went cold over the weekend.

“The step I am taking tonight will ensure the process for the supplemental moves forward, and that hopefully disagreements on immigration do not prevent us from doing what we must do to protect America’s security,” Schumer said.

But Senate Republicans are also digging in, demanding tighter asylum laws and severe restrictions on immigration parole, a key component of the Biden administration’s carrot-and-stick border strategy.

“We made great progress, I think, on asylum, but the Democratic Party seems to be unwilling to address the key problem: parole,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Tuesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

Republicans see little reason to budge on concessions that some Senate Democrats accepted as viable last week.

“Rather than engaging with Congressional Republicans to discuss logical reforms, the Biden Administration has ignored realty, choosing instead to engage in political posturing,” Johnson wrote. 

“We stand ready and willing to work with the Administration on a robust border security package that protects the interests of the American people. It is well past time for the Administration to meaningfully engage with us.” 

Rebecca Beitsch contributed.