OAN’s Brooke Mallory
12:13 PM – Friday, May 24, 2024
A second bipartisan border security measure failed to advance in the Senate on Thursday following its introduction.
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Previously, the first border security measure was rejected by Republicans earlier this year after GOP members discovered that it would further fund both Ukraine and “sanctuary” jurisdictions, as well as NGOs that have been facilitating mass illegal immigration by 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 receive the 60 votes required to move forward in the upper chamber in a 43-to-50 vote.
The end result was predicted by many, and Democrats are now attempting to chastise Republicans for their resistance.
Analysts have suggested that Democrats are trying to sway public opinion in their favor since major polls indicate that the majority of Americans disapprove of President Biden’s immigration policies. Democrat responses have made it clear that the party wants to deflect criticism from its immigration policies and place it on the shoulders of the GOP in any way possible as the 2024 election approaches.
“The contrast between Democrats and Republicans is clear today and will be even clearer in November. Democrats want to fix the border and get something done. Republicans want to give speeches, let the border fester, and do absolutely nothing to fix the problem,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday afternoon.
Additionally, according to Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Republicans who opposed the bill “chose to preserve chaos at the border” and “now this crisis is on them.”
Schatz continued to lash out at his Republican colleagues and even blamed Donald Trump during a news conference on the subject on Wednesday.
“Some of the Republicans that I respect the most were really forceful with us, and so we listened,” he said. “We developed a piece of legislation that I don’t love, but I know is tough enough to get the job done. Yet they abandoned ship because Donald Trump told them to do so.”
On the flip side, Republicans have argued that the new bipartisan measure to increase the president’s authority will not significantly impact the chaotic migrant flow across the U.S.-Mexico border. They also argue that Biden already has the ability to do more, yet he’s “purposely choosing to not do anything” in order to bring in more future Democrat voters who rely on U.S. taxpayer-supported programs.
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter what law is on the books if the administration is not going to enforce the ones that already exist,” said GOP Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
Even in the improbable case that the bill made it out of the Senate, House Republican leadership declared earlier this week that it was “dead on arrival” in the lower house. The vote, according to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), was a waste of time and an attempt “to throw an election-year Hail Mary.”
Other senators, like James Lankford (R-Texas) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), as well as Independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema, negotiated the compromise bill.
Despite being one of four Republicans to vote in favor of the proposal in February, Lankford did not support it this time, referring to it as a blatant “prop.”
“Today is a political messaging exercise,” he said in regards to the bill. “That doesn’t help us as a country.”
The vote was obvious “political theater” and “a show vote whose sole purpose is to point the finger back at the other party,” according to Sinema.
“We don’t leave today with a political victory,” she stated. “No one wins. No one gets the higher ground. Instead, we’re saying to each other, don’t step out. Don’t try to solve big problems. Stay in your partisan corner.”
Nevertheless, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) has consistently claimed that Republicans declined to back the bill in February because they preferred to focus on border issues as a major talking point closer to the election.
“So for Republican colleagues now [to] claim that politics is the reason we’re here, well, yes—their politics, their presumptive presidential nominee saying that they should not vote for it because of the political advantage they would have from keeping it as an issue,” he said.
However, Cory Booker (D-N.J.) sided with the GOP in regards to the most recent border measure. Booker asserted that the bill “includes several provisions that will violate Americans’ shared values” and “misses key components that can go much further in solving the serious immigration problems facing our nation.”
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