https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-5-2024
"It’s been an exceedingly weird 24 hours.
Last night the Senate released the text of the national security supplemental
bill on which a bipartisan team of negotiators has been working for four
months. Negotiators were working on adding a border component to an urgent
measure to fund aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Gaza, since extremist House
Republicans said they would not pass such a measure until Congress also
addressed what they insisted was a crisis at the U.S. border.
The measure appropriated $60.1 billion in military aid to Ukraine, $14.1
billion in security aid for Israel, and $10 billion in humanitarian aid for
Palestinians, Ukrainians, and other civilians in crises. It also invested about
$20 billion in securing the southern border of the U.S., money to be used in
hiring new officials, expanding detention facilities, and increasing the
screening abilities of border agents to detect illicit fentanyl and other
drugs.
Other provisions would trigger border closures if the volume of migrants climbs
past a certain number and make it more difficult to qualify for asylum. At the
same time, the measure offered more pathways to citizenship and more work
visas.
But it appears the MAGA Republicans never really intended for such a measure to
pass. They apparently thought that demanding that Congress agree to a border
measure, which it has not been able to do now for decades, would kill the
national security bill altogether. Certainly, once news began to spread that
the negotiators were close to a deal, both former president Trump and House
speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who said he was conferring with Trump, came out
strongly against the measure even before anyone knew what was in it."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
