Schumer: Republicans taking cues from Trump in opposing border deal 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday said he thinks Senate negotiators can reach a deal on Ukraine funding and border security, even though “many on the hard right” are “taking cues from Donald Trump” and trying to kill it.  

He said negotiators are “close to reaching a bipartisan agreement” but cautioned they’re “not there yet” and criticized former President Trump’s allies for trying to derail the talks to deny President Biden a legislative victory.  

“There are many on the hard right who are trying desperately to kill these negotiations before they are even finished. Many of them are motivated by naked partisanship, others are taking cues from Donald Trump,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. 

Schumer was referring to Trump’s statement last week in which he urged Republicans to oppose any compromise that fell short of “everything” needed to curtail immigration.

“I do not think we should do a Border Deal, at all, unless we get EVERYTHING needed to shut down the INVASION of Millions & Millions of people,” Trump posted on Truth Social.  

Schumer said he is staying in “close touch” with Senate negotiators, senior White House officials and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is urging colleagues to support the border security deal that will be attached to more than $60 billion in funding for Ukraine.   

The negotiators are sharing pieces of the deal with the Senate Appropriations Committee, which is translating it into the legislative text of the emergency foreign aid spending bill.  

Republicans familiar with the negotiations say the two sides have yet to hammer out a deal on how to lower the number of migrants who are being paroled into the country after being encountered at the border.