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Feb. 5 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden on Monday urged House Republicans to look closely at the contents of a "monumental" bipartisan congressional deal on immigration when it is introduced this week before declaring it dead. Speaking to reporters during a campaign stop at a tea shop in Las Vegas, Biden sought to counter opposition to the outlines of the deal voiced by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, urging him to "pay attention to what the Senate is doing."
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"We've got a bipartisan deal, and you're going to see the detail of it this week," he said. "It'll be introduced on Wednesday."
On Sunday, Senate negotiators released the outlines of a long-awaited deal for Mexico-U.S. border security and aid for Ukraine totaling $118 billion, which is $14 billion more than Biden's initial proposal.
Both Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell back the measure and praised by the job done by its negotiators, Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., and conservative James Lankford, R-Okla.
Schumer hailed the bipartisan agreement as a "monumental step towards strengthening America's national security abroad and along our border," noting its provisions allowing the president to arbitrarily shut down the border and establishing a temporary three-year "Border Emergency Authority."
The authority given to the president under the measure would allow him and the U.S. Homeland security secretary to "temporarily prohibit individuals from seeking asylum, with limited exceptions, when the Southwest Border is overwhelmed."
The bill also allocates $60 billion in Ukraine aid for its war with invading Russia, $14.1 billion for Israel's security and and $20.23 billion for immigration issues at the Southwest border.
McConnell called the measure necessary to establish "a system that works and new emergency tools to restore order" at the southern border, while praising Lankford "for working tirelessly to ensure that supplemental national security legislation begins with direct and immediate solutions to the crisis at our southern border."
Lankford himself called the deal a "once-in-a-generation opportunity" on social media, stating, "If Congress does nothing, Biden's border stays open."
But shortly after the outlines of the deal were released on Sunday, Johnson said the Senate bill is "dead on arrival" in the House, adding, "I've seen enough. This bill is even worse than we expected."
Former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, also voiced his disapproval of the compromise on Monday, not hiding his political motivation for doing so despite the long-standing and vociferous calls by Republican lawmakers to crack down on illegal border crossings.
"This Bill is a great gift to the Democrats, and a Death Wish for The Republican Party," he wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform. "It takes the HORRIBLE JOB the Democrats have done on Immigration and the Border, absolves them, and puts it all squarely on the shoulders of Republicans."
Trump also sent a warning to Lankford, saying in a radio interview on Monday, "I think this is a very bad bill for his career, especially in Oklahoma."
In Las Vegas, Biden criticized GOP lawmakers for demanding more border security but then passing on a prime opportunity to beef it up.
Admitting there's not enough border agents or immigration judges to handle the recent influx of hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers at the border, Biden asserted he's been trying to resolve the situation for years, and asked, "Why won't they give me the help, all this time?"
Citing GOP claims the border is "out of control," he said, "Well, guess what? Everything in that bipartisan bill gives me control, gives us control without being -- and still meets the needs of the people being able to come at all -- legally come across."
Meanwhile, amid the urgings of Trump, more Senate Republicans announced their opposition to the deal, endangering its chances of even making it to the House.
Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., became the 18th GOP senator to say they will vote against the border deal, declaring in a social media post, "Americans want Congress to pass legislation that secures the border to keep our nation safe. This bill falls short of that obligation. I cannot vote for a bill that funds the security of other nations while leaving our own border security in jeopardy."
Also on Monday, the conservative U.S. Chamber of Commerce joined Lankford by applauding the bipartisan deal, as well, calling it "commonsense measures" and "desperately needed border security, asylum, and immigration reforms."
"The economic disruption and human suffering wrought by our border crisis have become so severe that Congress cannot afford to ignore these problems any longer," Neil Bradley, the Chamber's Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer said in Monday's statement encouraging congressional passage of the plan.
In a Sunday statement, the White House urged Congress to "swiftly pass this bipartisan agreement" for Biden to sign it.
Vice President Kamala Harris pointed out that the bipartisan agreement "does not include everything we have fought for over the past three years," and joined the president in calling on Congress to act.
"Unfortunately, we have too often been met with those who sought to play political games instead of participating in solutions," Harris said in a statement.
The White House said that House Republicans have to decide, "Do they want to solve the problem? Or do they want to keep playing politics with the border?"
