'McConnell completely blew this': GOP leader hemorrhaging support after border bill fail

Despite working for weeks on a bipartisan legislative package that coupled foreign aid for US allies with funding to secure the Southern border, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Kentucky) efforts to rally his caucus around the bill were ultimately in vain.

This has led some Senate Republicans to doubt the leadership abilities of Kentucky's senior US senator as he approaches his 82nd birthday later this month.

"I’ve been super unhappy since this started," Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) told Politico. "Leader McConnell completely blew this."

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McConnell's committed efforts to pass the $118 billion package — which included roughly $14 billion for the border along with additional appropriations for Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine — fell flat in the face of former President Donald Trump's pressure campaign on Republicans to kill the legislation. The bill also prompted infighting among Senate Republicans torn between wanting to notch a conservative policy victory on an issue important to the GOP base and not wanting to draw the ire of Trump and his millions of devoted followers.

According to Politico, a Senate GOP meeting devolved into a "near-shouting match" between Sens. Johnson and Todd Young (R-Indiana), while Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) butted heads on the content of the bill itself and the GOP's commitment to addressing the border. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) told Politico that while he was hesitant to lay the blame entirely at McConnell's feet, he emphasized that his caucus has "got to have a better plan," adding, "this didn’t work out for us." Other McConnell critics expressed frustrations about the minority leader's waffling on an issue he personally pushed hard for.

"For three months it’s been nothing but border and Ukraine, border and Ukraine, border and Ukraine. I don’t know how many speeches I've heard... and now all of a sudden, it's: 'We’re not going to do that,'" Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) said.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) has scheduled a vote on the bill for later Wednesday. It's not expected to pass through the chamber. And even if it were to make it to the House of Representatives, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) has already pledged to not even call it up for a vote.

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