Lindsey Graham, who voted against Senate foreign aid bill, ‘very optimistic’ about House proposal

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Sunday that he feels “very optimistic” about a House bipartisan caucus’ $66 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific that also includes border security measures.

“I don’t want to wait — I want to act now,” Graham said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “I want to turn the aid package into a loan, that makes perfect sense to me. And I think the bipartisan Problem Solvers group has an idea that will sell.”

Graham added that depending on how the bill is written, it “makes perfect sense” to him. 

“I feel very optimistic after having been on the phone all weekend talking to my House colleagues that there’s a way forward on the border and Ukraine,” he said. 

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Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks with reporters about aid to Ukraine, on Capitol Hill on Thursday, March 10, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

The 30-page House proposal, released Friday, comes as Republican lawmakers shot down any chance of the Senate’s $95 billion aid package — which Graham voted against — making it to the floor. 

The bill is designed to curtail the influx of migrants at the southern border as officials struggle to get a handle on the crisis. It would re-up former President Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, which mandated asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while they await their court hearings, and additionally prohibits the use of federal funds for transferring migrants between detention centers or other locations, except when necessary for processing their immigration cases.

“I think that’s a winning combination,” Graham said of the proposal. “Let’s make it a loan. I think that gets you President Trump on the aid part.”

Graham’s vote against the Senate’s foreign aid package last week came as a surprise to pundits, as Graham has historically been a staunch defense funding hawk. His vote followed after Trump floated the idea on his Truth Social account of classifying foreign aid as a loan and instructed House Republicans to reject the Senate’s failed bipartisan border deal. 

However, even though the South Carolina Republican agreed with Trump on making the funds loans, he said “with all due respect, we cannot wait” to secure the border. 

“It’s a national security nightmare,” he said. 

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Two SUVs were seen pulling up to the U.S. southern border near Jacumba, California, and unloading dozens of migrants who entered the country illegally. (Bud Knapp / FOX Nation)

Graham’s appearance on “Face the Nation” comes just days after he visited the southern border with state colleague Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. 

“The bipartisan senate bill, without the Remain in Mexico policy change, is woefully inadequate to the task at hand. Everyone we met with said going back to Remain in Mexico is a key ingredient to fixing the problem,” Graham wrote on X from Eagle Pass, Texas, on Friday. “I encourage all of my colleagues to come down here to listen and learn.”

The bill also includes $47.7 billion to assist Ukraine’s military defense against Russia, $10.4 billion for Israel and $4.9 billion for U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific. 

The bill, dubbed the Defending Borders, Defending Democracies Act, is led by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Jared Golden, D-Maine.

In a Dear Colleague letter on Monday, Fitzpatrick argued that the House’s bill, unlike the Senate bill, which included humanitarian aid for Gaza, “narrows prior foreign aid proposals to critical military essentials for Ukraine and Israel.”

HOUSE REPUBLICAN INTRODUCES BILL TO REIMBURSE TEXAS THE NEARLY $4 BILLION IT SPENT TO SECURE BORDER

President Biden, right, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visit Saint Michael’s cathedral, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 20, 2023. (REUTERS/Gleb Garanich)

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“Congress is responsible for making the laws that govern our borders, providing resources to enforce those laws, and overseeing the federal agencies responsible for enforcement. It is a mistake to defer our responsibility to the Executive Branch, and the crisis at the border is too great to wait more than eight months for the outcome of an election,” the letter stated. 

“We can fulfill our duties by passing this bill to restore expulsion authority and by amending the Immigration and Nationality Act to make ‘Remain in Mexico’ a requirement, not an option. These two policies would empower the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to reassert order and control at our border.”