House Republicans Say Speaker Is Right to Doubt Unpublished Senate Border Deal

One purported aspect of the deal allows for border officials to close the border if they encounter a daily average of 5,000 people across the span of a week.

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) leaves a closed-door House Republican meeting at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Oct. 20, 2023. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Several Republican House members are standing by comments House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has offered in recent days, declaring a tentative Senate border security agreement would be dead on arrival in the House if rumors about its contents prove accurate.

The actual text of the Senate agreement has not yet been released, but rumors about some of the deal’s provisions have circulated throughout Capitol Hill and many Republicans in both houses of Congress haven’t liked what they’ve heard.