House Republicans’ border security bill fails to pass

The House rejected a revised version of its signature border bill, offered by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), that would have given U.S. border authorities additional tools to clamp down on illegal immigration.

Lawmakers voted 215-199 to defeat the border security package, falling short of the two-thirds majority threshold needed to pass the House under suspension of the rules. Only five Democrats voted with all Republicans in favor of the border bill.

Johnson called a vote on this latest border bill to address criticisms from his party that the $95 billion foreign aid package he also put up for a vote on Saturday did not include language to stem illegal immigration into the United States that has hit record levels under President Joe Biden. Republicans had long wanted any additional aid to Ukraine to be tied with border security, but for months those efforts have failed, most notably when a bipartisan effort died in the Senate in February.

The failure on Saturday of the separate border bill came the same day bipartisan lawmakers later passed the foreign aid proposals that will be sent to the Senate with Biden’s support. The package had broad Democratic support.

The latest iteration, named the End the Border Catastrophe Act, is largely based on H.R. 2 that passed the House last year. The bill includes several measures to limit the number of immigrants allowed into the country to seek asylum while also seeking to revive some Trump-era immigration policies that were dismantled under President Joe Biden.

However, the bill is slimmer in comparison to the original bill text, prompting anger among some hardliners who accused Johnson of using the proposal as a way to stave off threats to his speakership.

“It’s a theatrics, shiny object,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). “It’s the shiny object for Republicans that are saying we got to do something for the border.”

Meanwhile, Johnson must contend with a threat from Greene to oust him from his top leadership position after the Georgia Republican filed a motion to vacate late last month. Although she has not said what would be a trigger for her to force a vote on his ouster, Greene has repeatedly said it could be determined by what Johnson does in relation to Ukraine aid.

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Johnson, for his part, has brushed off any threats to his speakership.

“Listen, my philosophy is you do the right thing, and you let the chips fall where they may. If I operated out of fear over a motion to vacate, I would never be able to do my job,” Johnson told reporters on Thursday. “I do not spend my time walking around thinking about the motion. I have a job to do here.”