Republican lawmakers heaped praise on Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman after he suggested he might support a GOP-backed border bill in exchange for Ukraine funding.
Fetterman told Fox News congressional correspondent Chad Pergram on Thursday that he was willing to vote for H.R. 2, a border security bill that passed the House in May but stalled out in the Democrat-controlled Senate, according to Mediaite.
Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee took to Twitter to celebrate the Pennsylvania freshman’s statement.
“If John Fetterman helps us to get H.R. 2 across the finish line and achieve real border security, I will shave my head in solidarity,” Lee tweeted, referring to Fetterman’s own shaved head. “Heck, he can even hold the clippers.”
The bill would fund border wall construction, step up investment in border security technology, impose restrictions on the asylum system and expedite the removal of certain illegal migrants.
If @JohnFetterman helps us to get H.R. 2 across the finish line and achieve real border security, I will shave my head again in solidarity.
Heck, he can even hold the clippers. https://t.co/heD6FLsZew
— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) March 1, 2024
Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy was also thrilled with the Democratic senator’s stance on the bill, telling Pergram on Thursday that he was “glad” to see Fetterman breaking with fellow Democrats.
“The new and improved Fetterman can wear whatever he wants, if he keeps talking like that,” Roy told the Fox News congressional correspondent, drawing attention to Fetterman’s previous efforts to defy the Senate dress code. “I’m glad to see him talking about, ‘Hey, there’s some provisions in H.R. 2 that would actually do the job.'”
GOP TX Rep Roy on Fetterman saying he is for most of HR2: The new and improved Fetterman can wear whatever he wants, if he keeps talking like that…I’m glad to see him talking about ‘hey, there’s some provisions in HR 2 that would actually do the job.’
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) February 29, 2024
Pergram wrote that Fetterman told him he “is for most of HR2 except portion which ends DACA. Says he wants a ‘grand bargain’ on border security, linked to international aid. Says he wants something ‘stronger’ than the bipartisan bill which blew up earlier this winter.” (RELATED: ‘Gives Me Hope’: Fox And Friends Host Offers Rare Praise To Fetterman For Calling Out Left-Wingers)
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is an Obama-era policy that shields illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children from deportation.
A border security bill supported by Democrats and the White House was abandoned by the Senate in February after it failed to gain enough GOP support, while Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said the legislation would have been “dead on arrival” in the GOP-controlled House.
Former President Donald Trump also opposed the bill. “Only a fool, or a Radical Left Democrat, would vote for this horrendous Border Bill, which only gives Shutdown Authority after 5000 Encounters a day, when we already have the right to CLOSE THE BORDER NOW, which must be done,” he wrote in a Feb. 5 Truth Social post.
The legislation would have paired border policy with foreign aid, allocating $60 billion to Ukraine and $14 billion to Israel.