Then-former President Donald Trump and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. (LOGAN CYRUS/AFP via Getty Images)
But Graham’s decision to plow ahead with the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee’s $128.4 billion bill, which funds the lion's share of the administration’s border security request, comes after the committee’s chair, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., proposed to cut half the funding baked into the House GOP’s bill.
Paul’s concerns mobilized White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller to hold a closed-door meeting with Senate Republicans on Thursday to justify the price tag.
"As Budget Chairman, I will do my best to ensure that the President’s border security plan is fully funded because I believe it has been fully justified," Graham said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "I respectfully disagree with Chairman Paul’s proposal to cut the Trump plan by more than 50 percent."
"The President promised to secure our border," he continued. "His plan fulfills that promise. The Senate must do our part."
The Homeland Security Committee accounts for the bulk of the White House’s $150 billion request, but not all. The remaining money is expected to come from the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees.
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White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller (Getty Images)
But whatever comes from the Senate has to pass muster with the House before making its way to Trump’s desk.
And Miller’s meeting with the Senate GOP was meant to shore up support behind the funding detailed in the House’s bill and answer lingering concerns from fiscal hawks who are trying to find ways to further cut spending in the reconciliation process.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., lauded Miller after the meeting but noted that there were some lawmakers who "were upset, and some that just didn't want to hear."
"I mean, Rand Paul’s solution is to cut everything in half and call it good," he said. "That's not real budgeting."
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said there was "a little frustration" from some lawmakers who wanted to see a spreadsheet of the funding. He dismissed the notion that the meeting became tense and said "there’s no way to precisely calculate what the administration is going to need" to clean up the "enormous mess" left by the Biden administration.
"If anything, we maybe ought to need more. It's such a big problem," Johnson said. "I don’t think we're going to move the number up, but we're not going to shortchange it."
"This is a mess we have to clean up," he said. "It's going to cost a lot of money, and we want to make sure this administration has the money to clean up."
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fully-justified-graham-plows-ahead-trump-border-funding-despite-pauls-objections