EDITORIAL: Blame the White House for delays in aid package

Leaders in the Senate held out hope Thursday that they could reach a compromise on the White House’s $110 billion national security package even as Congress adjourned for the holidays. Blame the delays on President Joe Biden.

Top-ranking senators in the upper chamber said they hope to keep talking over the weekend in an effort to reach a deal on the administration’s aid proposal for Israel and Ukraine. The bill also includes money for border security. But even if meetings produce an agreement, there’s no guarantee the House will reassemble before January to consider the legislation.

Remember that it was Mr. Biden who insisted on bundling these various issues into a single piece of legislation in an effort to pressure Republicans. The tactic backfired when Republicans held firm last week to block the bill. Mr. Biden has also known for months that the GOP would demand reforms to stem the flow of illegal entrants at our porous southern border. Yet the president has been loath to get on the wrong side of the open-border progressive extremists who now run the Democratic Party.

But as the clock ticked toward the congressional recess — and with the border issue a massive blot on the president’s record — Mr. Biden finally took his hands off his eyes. On Wednesday, he proposed allowing border officials “to expel migrants without asylum screenings on days when border crossings are particularly high,” The Washington Post reported.

Democrats have also agreed that “some asylum seekers be held in immigration detention for the duration of their hearings,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

Republicans have other border priorities, but this is a start. No deal can be perfect for either side, given the political realities of a divided Congress. Elections matter, and both Republicans and Democrats need the other to move legislation forward. In this case, something is better than nothing.

“There is too much on the line for Ukraine, for America, for Western democracy, to throw in the towel right now,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. His counterpart sounded optimistic. “We’re still hoping to get an outcome,” said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

The fact that many congressional leftists were already attacking details of a potential agreement speaks volumes. But Mr. Biden’s poll numbers on border security are abysmal. The notion that he can gain vital support from independents by kowtowing to his hard left on immigration — as thousands of migrants crash the border every day — is a progressive fantasy. A compromise is there to be had. It’s now up to Mr. Biden to seize the moment.