Schumer rejects Senate GOP border security demands for Ukraine aid: 'total non-starter'

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday firmly rejected a list of border security demands that Republican senators had put forward as conditions for supporting additional aid to Ukraine.

Whereas President Joe Biden and Schumer have sought to pair Ukraine aid with support for Israel, House conservatives and some Senate Republicans have rejected that approach, instead favoring a stand-alone Israel aid bill and pairing Ukraine aid with border security reforms. 

Led by GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham, S.C., Tom Cotton, Ark., and James Lankford, Okla., the upper chamber lawmakers on Monday debuted a one-page list of extensive reforms, which Schumer deemed unacceptable.

"Senate Republicans released a proposal for border security in exchange for Ukraine funding," he said. "They know full well that this is a total non-starter. Making Ukraine funding conditional on hard-right border policies that can’t ever pass Congress is a huge mistake."

Among the proposed reforms were plans to tighten standards to claim asylum, that the Department of Homeland Security resume border wall construction, the imposition of "safe third country" requirements, and a litany of others.

We must make policy changes to reduce the flow of immigration," Graham said. "The world is on fire and threats to our homeland are at an all-time high. President Biden’s border policies are not working and it’s time to change course. Our proposal makes the necessary changes that our country needs at this critical time."

The Republican-controlled House has already passed an Israel-only aid bill that included matching cuts to the Internal Revenue Service, though it is likely dead on arrival in the Senate and Biden has vowed to veto it should it reach his desk.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.