WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats failed Thursday to advance a bipartisan border security bill as President Donald Trump targets border chaos as a centerpiece of his 2024 campaign against President Joe Biden. Nearly all Republicans voted for the filibuster.
The vote was 43-50, falling short of the 60 votes needed to pass the bill. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska was the only Republican senator to vote in favor of passing the bill on Thursday, while six Democrats joined the remaining GOP senators in voting to block the bill.
The vote ends a bizarre series of events since Senate Republican leaders pushed for a border security deal last year, signing a compromise bill and then reaching an agreement. Democrats, wary of their own political vulnerabilities on immigration, have responded to various Republican demands to raise standards for asylum seekers and tighten border controls. President Trump pressured Republican lawmakers to scrap a deal that was successful and not “perfect.”
The vote was expected to fail, but was brought up to put Republicans on record as opposing a bipartisan compromise.
“Mr. Trump has directed the MAGA Alliance to block this issue so they can exploit it in their campaign,” Schumer told reporters after the vote. “And Senate Republicans blindly and faithfully followed suit.”
But the vote was also an opportunity for Democrats in a political crisis to signal that they will take a tough stance on immigration.
“This common sense bill would push back against the Biden administration’s failed border policies by forcing the president to close the border, strengthen refugee laws, and end capture and release. Mitch McConnell and Washington Politicians It’s shameful that they would prefer to keep the border issue a political talking point rather than actually solving the problem,” said John, a Democrat from Montana who is up for difficult re-election in the Republican-leaning state.・Senator Tester said in a statement.
Republican Sen. Steve Daines, also from Montana, is the chairman of a campaign aiming to defeat Tester and others to win the Senate majority this fall. Daines called the vote a “political stunt” by Democrats.
The bill was negotiated by Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), who was appointed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to lead the negotiations. He struck a deal with Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Kyrsten Sinema (R-AZ), and it was signed by McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). However, Republicans quickly opposed it, causing McConnell to change his position. The border provisions were originally meant to be attached to funding for Ukraine and Israel, but Congress passed those aid packages separately.
The compromise backed by Biden was designed to reduce border crossings, raise asylum eligibility standards for immigrants, and allow authorities to quickly expel those who don’t meet those standards. Gives the president the power to close the border if immigration levels exceed a certain threshold. Shortly before the bill was announced earlier this year, Lankford told NBC News that it was “the most conservative border security bill in 40 years.”
He voted no on Thursday, as did Sinema, in what Republicans called a stunt vote.
Lankford said the chances of a border security solution coming this year are “pretty slim.” “At this point, no one seems to want to seriously discuss it,” he said.
Even if it passes the Senate, Republican leaders have made it clear that the bill will die when it reaches the House of Representatives.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who is up for re-election this fall, argued that the border security bill is “designed to fail.”
“In fact, you can mathematically quantify the chance that this bill will pass the House. And the chance is 0.00%,” Cruz said on the Senate floor. “Instead, Democrats intentionally want this border crisis to continue.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, said Thursday that Congress should pass HR2, the Republican’s more aggressive immigration bill, which is partisan and lacks support from Democrats.
“After more than three years of insisting that the situation at the southern border is not a crisis amid the influx of millions of illegal aliens, Congressional Democrats are trying to hide their support for President Biden’s open borders policy by We’re going to say hurray to the new year,” Johnson said. He said.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) criticized Republicans for “trying to politicize the border issue” instead of solving it.
“The extreme MAGA Republicans are not seriously addressing the challenges that clearly exist at the border. That’s why they blew up their own bill,” he said. “Democrats will continue to be rational, responsible, and results-oriented. … Unfortunately, Republicans seem to want to continue their sense of chaos, dysfunction, and extremism. If this continues, by November You will pay a price.”