What the death of America’s border bill says about toxic congressional politics

THE LIFE of the Senate’s bill to increase border security in exchange for sending aid to Ukraine was wretched and short. Its three main negotiators released the text on Sunday. On Monday it had the support of Mitch McConnell, the chamber’s top Republican. By Tuesday it was dead. “It looks to me, and to most of our members, as if we have no real chance here to make a law,” Mr McConnell conceded.

But that is only because of the petulant actions of those members. Republicans’ negative reactions in both chambers of Congress were overwhelming and swift—considering the bill is 370 pages long. Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the bill would be “dead on arrival” in the lower chamber. That is despite voters’ approval: a recent poll from YouGov suggests that a narrow plurality of Americans support the compromise.