May 2, 2024

Joe Biden loves to talk about compromise, so why no Senate border deal?

President Biden has the opportunity to lead a compromise with a deal to for Ukraine and the border crisis.
President Biden has the opportunity to lead a compromise with a deal for Ukraine and the border crisis.
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File

Joe Biden loves to tout his bona fides as a bipartisan compromiser during his days as a senator. 

So why on earth, with a chance as president for real compromise on the border crisis and aid to Ukraine and Israel, is he flat-out refusing it?

Senate Republicans last week voted down an emergency spending bill because it lacked desperately needed border measures, leaving crucial monies for Ukraine (and Israel and Taiwan) in limbo ahead of the December recess. 

This is the perfect opportunity for Biden to take the lead on hammering out a deal; he’s even said publicly he’s willing to “make significant compromises on the border.”

That can’t be simply funneling more money to nebulous border security pushes via CPB and ICE. 

Not after the United States set a new record last week with more than 12,000 migrants crossing the southern border in a single day.

At this point, handing Biden a blank border-funds check means more encouraging of illegal immigration through his insane “wave them in” policy. 

But actually doing something substantive in exchange for OKing Ukraine aid would be in line with Biden’s Dem-approved stance on Russia’s brutal war and a first step in fighting back on the disaster at the border.

Yes, his administration caused that disaster. 

But what’s done is done, and what the Senate GOP wants in the bill (which mirrors a House border bill the White House has vowed to veto) is both substantive and reasonable.

Like reviving the Trump Era “Remain in Mexico” policy plus a new version of Title 42.

And declaring migrants ineligible for US asylum if they didn’t seek first asylum in any country they passed through en route to America.

What about restricting asylum claims to official ports of entry while upping standards around qualifying?

Remember too: Back in 2021, per Franklin Foer’s book on Biden, when the new prez realized that what his open-border-enthusiast policy team wanted would mean murderers and drug dealers crossing into the United States, he lost it, spending months in a dismal and impotent rage. 

So let the GOP help you, Joe. (Heck, it’d be great for your re-election prospects.)  

Build out a deal with your fellow Democrats; work those compromise muscles with Republicans; get Uklraine and Israel needed help — and fix the disastrous problem that stretches from El Paso all the way to New York. 

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