Senate Budget Hawks, Top Trump Advisor Clash Over Border Spending In ‘Big, Beautiful’ Bill

Top White House Advisor Stephen Miller met with Senate Republicans on Thursday to discuss enhancing border security funding in the “one big, beautiful bill” amid disagreements over how much money to funnel into the border.

Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has widely advocated to slice the House-passed bill’s border funding from $150 billion to $75 billion, arguing the border can still be secured with less spending. However the budget resolution, which set limits for the massive bill, offered the committee up to $175 billion for border and homeland security measures, which was pushed by Miller in the meeting.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, chair of the Senate Budget committee, as well as Paul are both expected to release separate border funding proposals, with Graham submitting his text to serve for the Homeland Security Committee’s portion of the bill.

Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, a member of the Homeland Security committee, called the lack of specificity around the border funding numbers “frustrating,” but claimed it got “smoothed over very quickly” after Miller broke down the numbers behind his pitch for further funding.

“We’re very supportive of Stephen Miller. We appreciate the explanation. He’s an expert in the subject, he’s articulate. So he laid it out,” Johnson said. “There might’ve been a little misunderstanding up front, but we’re very supportive of what the president wants to do.”