Speaker Johnson’s border bill olive branch teed up for Saturday vote after stalled by conservatives

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s attempt to sway conservatives to vote for his foreign aid package by presenting a separate border security bill ran into wary conservatives, but he will get a second chance on the House floor on Saturday. 

The End the Border Catastrophe Act was devised by Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, as an olive branch of sorts to conservative hardliners who wanted him to attach border security provisions to Ukraine aid.

It was meant to be a last-minute addition to the four-part, $95 billion foreign aid package after the speaker was pressured to include border security policy to the mix and was intended to be voted on separately.

But conservative Reps. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Chip Roy of Texas and Thomas Massie of Kentucky this week blocked the bill, which roughly mirrors the House GOP’s Secure the Border Act that passed last year, from making it through the House Rules Committee.
Passing the measure as a separate bill guarantees it will be ignored by Senate Democrats and President Biden.

“It’s a fig leaf, and we’ve already passed the [Secure the Border Act],” Mr. Massie said.

The hardliners argued that the bill was a joke and that Mr. Johnson should have applied more pressure and leverage on Democrats to secure the U.S./Mexico border.

Now, the bill will be brought under suspension Saturday, which means it will need at least two-thirds of the House to pass it — an unlikely lift because of Republican and Democratic opposition.