Bipartisan border deal hits legislative wall as Republicans say they will block bill

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• Amna Nawaz:

  The Senate border compromise unveiled fewer than 48 hours ago has already hit a legislative wall.

  Senate Republicans today announced they will block the long-negotiated proposal that would address the border crisis and provide aid to Ukraine and Israel. The bill drew sharp opposition from House Republicans, who spent much of today debating whether to impeach the homeland security secretary.

  Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins and our team have been working sources in both chambers. She joins us now live to report on where things stand.

  Lisa, this bill has not even been debated. The debate hasn't even begun over the border deal. Republicans are blocking it already. Why is that? And also how final is that block?

• Lisa Desjardins:

  This is a real moment of logical disconnect.

  It does seem that the votes technically are there to open up debate on this bill, but when Senate Republicans met behind closed doors last night and today, they decided they would not support actually opening up this bill. There are a few reasons for that, and part of it has to do with the pressure on them over the border.

  A lot of it has to do with election-year politics. There is a debate still over the roots, of course, of the border crisis itself, but when it comes to the reasons that this bill offering a solution was pulled, Republicans today looked at each other and sort of blamed each other for it.

• Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI):

  We wanted to secure the border. That is why we are voting no. This does more harm than good, and that's not James Lankford's fault. That's Leader McConnell's fault.

• Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY):

  Things have changed over the last four months, and it's been made perfectly clear by the speaker that he wouldn't take it up even if we sent it to him. And so I think that's probably why most of our members think we ought to have opposition.

• Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA):

  They did not send us a border security measure. They didn't. They sent us a supplemental funding proposal that has immigration reform, but not real border security reform, and so that's why it's a nonstarter.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  A waterfall of blame here, some blaming McConnell, some blaming the speaker, the speaker blaming the Senate.

  But, clearly, there is something else at work here. Democrats, for their part, including President Biden, say what happened is much more simple.

  Joe Biden , President of the United States: All indications are this bill won't even move forward to the Senate floor. Why? A simple reason: Donald Trump. Because Donald Trump thinks it's bad for him politically.

  He'd rather weaponize this issue than actually solve it.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Now, there is not a plan B for either how to deal with the border crisis or for Ukraine funding. The House tonight may take a vote on a separate bill on Israel funding. That may not pass.

  So we're not clear what happens on any of these issues, if there can be progress on any of them in coming days or weeks.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Lisa, meanwhile, as we mentioned earlier, a rare vote planned in the House today to impeach the Department of Homeland Security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas. Where does that stand?

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Amna, this is incredibly close.

  I am speaking to you at the exact second that we're waiting to see if House Republicans even bring up this vote. They have teed it up. This is the previous vote closing out now. They are expected to bring up this impeachment vote next.

  But I have to tell you, from my reporting Amna, I don't think House Republicans have the vote, the majority vote, to pass it. As we have said on this program, there is an incredibly narrow margin in the House for Republicans. They can lose only two members and pass things with only Republican votes.

  We know of at least two members who are against this. And, today, the National Fraternal Order of Police came out with a letter saying Alejandro Mayorkas in their view has actually helped things, that he is someone who respects law and order.

  Now those Republicans who want to impeach him say instead that Mayorkas has had a willful disregard for federal law. And, indeed, they say he lied to Congress as well. Mayorkas denies that. He says this is political.

  A real test for House Republicans in a major effort tonight. We should know in the next hour or so what happens.

• Amna Nawaz:

  That's congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins with the latest on Capitol Hill.

  Lisa, thank you.