Lindsey Graham says Senate ‘not anywhere close’ to reaching Ukraine-border deal

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on Sunday that negotiators are not close to reaching a bipartisan border deal allowing the upper chamber to pass Israel and Ukraine aid before the end of the year.

Graham made the comments on NBC’s Meet the Press after being asked about the status of the talks. A bipartisan working group of senators has spent weeks negotiating a border security deal, which would be added to a defense spending bill that includes aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. Negotiators on both sides have acknowledged that the border measure is critical to passing the legislation through both chambers.

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“I think this will go into next year,” Graham said of the talks, criticizing the White House for not getting involved in negotiations earlier this fall.

“The bottom line here is we feel like we’re being jammed,” he added, speaking for Republicans. “We’re not anywhere close to a deal.”

Sens. James Lankford (R-OK) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) have been leading the negotiations, which have centered largely on changes to federal asylum policy and how the Biden administration uses the humanitarian parole authority.

There have also been reports that the White House has offered to establish a new border expulsion law and increase mandatory detention rates as part of the negotiations.

Negotiators stayed in Washington D.C. over the weekend to meet about the potential deal and will remain in Washington D.C. this week while their colleagues are in their home states for the Christmas recess.

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), a supporter of the larger supplemental package as long as it includes “credible” border policy changes, told reporters this week that getting the bill to President Joe Biden’s desk before the end of the year was unlikely.

“All I’ve said is it is practically impossible even if we reach an agreement to craft it and get it through the Senate and get it through the House before Christmas,” McConnell said on Tuesday. “It doesn’t mean it’s not important; even though we have been emphasizing the border, I want to remind everyone on the importance of Ukraine.”