The bipartisan border got down by the Senate on Thursday that mark the second time of blocking in matter of months as Democrats, this would look to increase their political troubles and give President Biden and incumbent senators a boost in the process. Senators voted 43-50 to take down the proposal which got negotiated by Sens. James Lankford, Chris Murphy and Krysten Sinema over the fall and winter.
The renewed border push has not been discusses with the Oklahoma Republican by Schumer and Murphy and he was siding with his GOP colleagues. He also argued that the current push was inherently political and the Democrats were not interested in getting legislative results at this point.
“Today is not a bill. Today is a prop. Today is a political messaging exercise,” Lankford said ahead of the vote. “That doesn’t help us as a country.” Joining Lankford in flipping their votes to no were Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Sinema. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) voted against the bill in February, but was absent Thursday.
Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer said that former President Trump and his supporters has killed the bill for political purposes and now he wanted to pt the bill on the floor again as the Democrats want action at the border. “People want us to get things done. People want us to come together. And when they hear that the only reason Republicans backed away from this bill is not that it wasn’t strong enough, but that Donald Trump said he wanted chaos at the border, they don’t like that,” Schumer said Thursday on the floor.
“The public is on the same page. And in the polling data, Democrats, Republicans, and independents are all on the same page: act on a bipartisan bill, get something done,” he continued. “Don’t play political games.”
“They’re trying to get right, and they know they need political cover. To me, that’s all this is about,” Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the No. 2 Senate Republican, said Wednesday. “He knows this is not going to get an outcome. It’s not going to pass the House. We’re not making law here.” “This is about political messaging, and they understand it’s a big political vulnerability for them, and I get why he’s doing what he’s doing,” Thune continued. “But I don’t think this is going to work, because people realize who owns the issue of the border, and that’s the Democrats.”
As per the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, fiscal 2024 has reported approximately 217,000 migrants crossing per month and 300,000 crossings were marked at the high-water mark in the previous years.
The tense negotiations among the three has made this border bill emerged out as part of a bid to gain House Republicans’ for their national security aid for Ukraine.