Mike Johnson Confronted With Demands To Bring Immigration Deal To A Vote

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In recent comments in Congress, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) — the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee — demanded that House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) get moving on immigration, around which Johnson and Republican allies of his are so intent on raising complaints.

There’s been a GOP idea of approving further aid to both Ukraine and Israel in conjunction with domestic changes to border policy — an approach that Nadler maligned, particularly considering Johnson’s repeatedly stated opposition to much of what’s been proposed or under discussion from the White House and the Senate. By extension, that jeopardizes assistance from the U.S. for Ukraine and Israel. The Senate has hosted bipartisan discussions around a prospective deal, which a recent CNN report said was shaping up to provide new federal powers to nearly completely close the southern border between ports of entry, meaning established crossings into the U.S. — but House Republicans were resistant.

“And what’s even more pernicious is that they have joined together the close the border issue, the border issue, which is a valid issue, but they’ve lumped it together with aid to Israel and aid to Ukraine,” Nadler said, adding of the possibilities of their unfolding approach: “Because Trump and the Speaker, doing Trump’s bidding, don’t want us to pass an immigration bill, which they have tied up with aid to Israel and aid to Ukraine, we’re not going to aid Israel. We’re going to let Putin take over Ukraine.”

“When the Senate passes a very conservative bill, which they seem on track to do, bring it to the floor of the House, and let’s see what happens,” Nadler continued.

With the final year of this GOP majority in the House well underway, much of the focus from the party’s members has been on investigations, including a faltering impeachment inquiry implicating the president and efforts targeting prosecutors who’ve brought cases against Trump. Fani Willis, the Georgia district attorney behind an election-related case against Trump, was even recently subpoenaed by Republicans.