OAN’s Brooke Mallory
Friday, May 24, 2024 12:13 PM
A second bipartisan border security measure was introduced in the Senate on Thursday but did not advance for consideration.
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Previously, the first border security measure was vetoed by Republicans earlier this year after Republican lawmakers learned that it would have further increased funding for Ukraine and “sanctuary” jurisdictions, as well as NGOs that have been facilitating mass illegal immigration using federal grants provided by the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, State, and Health and Human Services.
Meanwhile, the second and most recent border bill failed to get the 60 votes needed for consideration in the Senate by a 43-50 vote.
The final outcome is expected by many, and Democrats are now trying to blame Republican resistance.
Analysts suggest Democrats are trying to sway public opinion in their favor, with major polls showing a majority of Americans disapproving of President Biden’s immigration policies. The Democratic response makes it clear that as the 2024 election approaches, the party is seeking to deflect criticism of its immigration policies and pin the blame on Republicans in any way possible.
“The differences between Democrats and Republicans are clear today and will become even clearer in November. Democrats want to fix the border and get something done. Republicans make speeches, let the border deteriorate and don’t want to do anything at all to solve the problem,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Thursday afternoon.
Additionally, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said Republicans who opposed the bill “chose to maintain chaos on the border” and “now they are responsible for this crisis.”
Schatz has continued to slam his Republican colleagues and, during a press conference on the matter on Wednesday, blasted Donald Trump.
“Some of the Republicans I respect the most came out very tough on us, so we listened,” he said. “We wrote a bill that I don’t like, but that I know is tough enough to get the job done. But they abandoned ship because Donald Trump told them to.”
Republicans, meanwhile, argue that the new bipartisan measures to strengthen presidential powers won’t have a significant impact on the chaotic flow of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, and that Biden is “intentionally choosing to do nothing” to bring in more future Democrats who rely on programs funded by U.S. taxpayers when he already has the capacity to do more.
“Unfortunately, any new laws passed don’t matter if the administration isn’t going to enforce the laws we have,” said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
Even if the bill were to pass the Senate in the unlikely event that it does, House Republican leaders declared the bill “dead on arrival” in the House earlier this week. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana said the vote was a waste of time and an attempt to “throw out a Hail Mary in an election year.”
Other senators, including Sen. James Lankford (R-Texas) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), as well as independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, joined in negotiating a compromise bill.
Lankford was one of four Republicans who voted in favor of the proposal in February, but did not support it this time around, calling it a blatant “prop.”
“Today is an event to send a political message” and “it serves no purpose as a country,” he said of the bill.
Sinema said the vote was clearly “political theater” and a “sham vote whose sole purpose was to vilify the other party.”
“We’re not going home today with a political victory,” she said. “Nobody wins. Nobody gets an advantage. Instead, we’re telling each other to stay put, to not step out, to not try to solve the big problems, to stay in our partisan positions.”
However, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) has consistently argued that Republicans declined to support the bill in February because they wanted to focus on the border as the election nears.
“My Republican colleagues are now [to] “They claim we’re here because of politics, and it certainly is. It’s their politics. Their presidential nominee is saying we shouldn’t vote for them because there’s political gain in leaving this issue as it is,” he said.
But Sen. Cory Booker (NJ) sided with Republicans on the latest border measures, arguing that the bill “contains several provisions that are antithetical to our shared American values” and “lacks important elements that could make a major contribution to solving the serious immigration challenges facing our country.”
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