Speaker Johnson: Border bill is ‘even worse than we expected’

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) slammed the Senate’s bipartisan border deal hours after the upper chamber released text of the long-awaited agreement, writing that it is “even worse than we expected” and declaring it “dead on arrival” in the House.

“I’ve seen enough. This bill is even worse than we expected, and won’t come close to ending the border catastrophe the President has created. As the lead Democrat negotiator proclaimed: Under this legislation, ‘the border never closes,’” Johnson wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“If this bill reaches the House, it will be dead on arrival,” he added.

The scathing statement from Johnson jives with comments he made in the lead-up to the Senate releasing the text of its deal — he previously said that if the contents of the legislation were similar to what reports had speculated, it would be dead on arrival in the House. 

Shortly before Johnson’s statement, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) — who oversees the schedule in the lower chamber — said the Senate bill “will NOT receive a vote in the House.”

The $118 billion national security supplemental includes $60 billion for Ukraine, $14.1 billion for Israel, aid for Indo-Pacific allies and the bipartisan border security agreement.