House centrists to unveil bipartisan border and aid deal for Ukraine and Israel

WASHINGTON — After Speaker Mike Johnson rejected a Senate-passed national security package, centrist House Republican lawmakers said Thursday they will soon unveil their own bipartisan proposal that calls for new border policies coupled with critical military aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

“This is a really good piece of legislation. It’s pared down. It’s airtight. There’s really not a whole lot of area that anyone can criticize on this,” said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., though the group has yet to release the text. “And it’s bipartisan. It’s the only bipartisan solution in the House.”

Fitzpatrick, one of the moderate leaders on Capitol Hill, said he is working with Democrats on the House deal but has declined to identify them. He is the co-chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan group of centrist lawmakers, but Fitzpatrick said that this was not a Problem Solvers product.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., a swing district lawmaker, said he worked with Fitzpatrick to craft the bill and hopes to release it soon. In addition to scaled-back aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, the package borrows language from the House GOP’s tough border bill, known as H.R. 2, members said.

That includes language relating to the “Remain in Mexico” policy that required some asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims were adjudicated. President Joe Biden ended the policy, which human rights groups said led migrants to face kidnappings and violence, when he took office and the Supreme Court upheld the move.

“It’s gonna be military aid only — Ukraine, Taiwan, Israel. And the Remain in Mexico policy using a lot of the wording from the H.R. 2. And we have Democrat buy-in,” Bacon said. “And I think this is a good spot to be if you’re Republican. You’re reducing the Senate bill by about 30%. So it’s fiscally more responsible. We know we got to do military aid to Ukraine or they’re going to fall, and it’ll cost us more if that happens. And we can deal with the border. So I just feel good about what we’re doing.”

But reinstating the border policy requires cooperation from Mexico, which the country has rejected. Neither Fitzpatrick nor Bacon could explain how to resolve that dilemma.

“That’s something we’ll have to work out,” Bacon said. “I’m not on the foreign — I’m not an ambassador so I have no idea how they’re going to respond. Our guys want something that makes a difference on the border.”

Fitzpatrick said they’re “still ironing out the language” on the immigration side of the bill and added that it’ll be the Biden administration’s job to find a way to make Mexico comply.

“Well that’s going to be part of what the administration’s role is in this,” he said. “We’re the legislative branch. The executive branch has to enforce the law.”

Fitzpatrick said he does not have a commitment from Johnson to bring the bill to the floor. He said he’d do “whatever it takes” to advance the bill but downplayed the idea of a using a discharge petition — a tool to bypass leadership and force a vote — instead suggesting a “queen of the hill” rule in which many bills can get a vote and the one with the largest number of votes is adopted.

“We have to talk to leadership or both parties and hopefully they’ll support it,” he said, adding that he doesn’t have a firm timeline.

But Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who has threatened to force a vote to overthrow Johnson if he puts a Ukraine funding bill on the floor, said the moderates’ bill is all but dead.

“I’ll assure you: Ukraine aid is not coming to the floor,” she said Thursday in an interview.

Unlike the Senate package, which passed 70-29, the House bill does not include any humanitarian aid for those affected by war in Gaza, Ukraine and other hot spots; the aid is solely for military needs.

But Fitzpatrick said lawmakers are free to try to change the legislation through the amendment process.

“We can open up to amendments and everybody can get their votes and let the House do its will,” he said.