Republicans express opposition to Senate border security deal

Three months after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky praised it as a “tremendous success,” reflecting heightened partisan tensions in an election year, Senate Republicans vow to block a bipartisan border security agreement from moving forward. I made a promise.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., plans to vote Thursday to advance it, but no Republican senators have said they will vote for it, despite it being endorsed by the National Border Patrol and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Of commerce.

McConnell, who earlier this year helped negotiate a border security package included in Ukraine’s $61 billion in aid, on Tuesday called Democrats’ plan to revert the plan to aid “a sham.” And he said there was no chance it would pass the House or Senate.

McConnell told President Biden in a call Monday that Republicans would not vote for the border security deal reached with Democrats earlier this year.

Instead, he urged Biden to address the border crisis through executive action, even though administration officials have said for months that they have limited authority to halt border crossings without congressional action.

“I told him this. Mr. President, you caused this problem. There is no legislation that can solve the problem. “Why don’t we just allow the previous administration to do what it did?” McConnell said, recalling his conversation with Biden.

Republicans are pointing to Biden’s decision to halt construction of the border wall, expand parole for immigrants and end the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy.

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), the bill’s lead negotiator, said Schumer’s plan to vote on the border security bill was supported by Rep. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Jacky Rosen (D-Mo.). Nev.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.).

Lankford said he would vote against advancing the bill, reversing his stance from February, when he was one of only four Republicans to vote in favor of the bill.

“This isn’t about trying to accomplish something. Now it’s about the message. This is more of a stab at Republicans than actually solving the problem,” Lankford said.

Lankford said he has not received any communication from Democrats to resume negotiations on the bill. The bill would reform the country’s asylum laws and give the president emergency powers to close the country’s borders if the average daily number of migrants exceeds 4,000.

Republicans have said they will vote to keep the bill out of debate because they don’t expect there will be a chance to amend it with proposals to make it stronger.

“They are just trying to politically protect some incumbents who are on the wrong side of an issue that concerns the American people,” said Senate Republican leader John Thune (SD).

Thune said he expects an overwhelming number of Republicans will vote to block the bill.

“It would be one thing if he could actually get the amendment votes, but he would shut it down,” Thune said of Schumer. “This is not a serious attempt to actually have a discussion about this. “This is actually a purely political act right now.”

The three other Republican senators who voted to advance the border security agreement in early February – Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah – have yet to support the bill. He said he had not decided whether to vote again.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who is competing with Thune to succeed McConnell as Republican leader at the end of the year, urged his Republican colleagues to oppose it.

“It’s a joke, it’s a bad joke,” he said, insisting that securing the border is “something Biden can do on his own.”

“If we pass a new law, I can’t be sure that he will enforce it even though he vetoed the existing law,” he said.

Schumer criticized his Republican colleagues for following his marching orders from former President Trump, who earlier this year urged Republicans to oppose the deal because he wanted to make the border a major issue by Election Day.

“Let’s not forget that when this bill was being negotiated, Leader McConnell also supported this effort. He argued that this should be done as part of the (foreign aid) supplement,” Schumer noted.

“This is the same bipartisan bill that both sides negotiated for months this winter,” he said. “It’s strong, it’s tough, it’s real.

He claimed, “This is the same bill that the Republican Party pushed for on a bipartisan basis,” and “After receiving President Trump’s orders, they changed direction and then backed down by voting against it.”

The biggest drama ahead of Thursday’s vote will be how many Democrats oppose the border security deal, which has little chance of passage and includes no aid for Ukraine or Israel.

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), who voted against the border security deal in February, said he would vote against it again, noting that the bill runs counter to traditional Democratic positions calling for reform to ensure immigration is compatible with border security measures. . .

“I don’t have a vote,” he said. “I have questions and concerns about the content of the bill. What’s not on the bill is a bigger problem.

“Some of my (Democratic) colleagues who supported this package a few months ago did so because it was a quid pro quo for financing Ukraine, but that is no longer the case. “It is not a trivial difference.”

“What’s most troubling is what’s not included in the bill,” he added. “Dreamer didn’t get any help. Not a single farmer receives any relief or protection. Undocumented people who have lived in the U.S. for a long time will not be able to get help here. “This cannot be a new starting point for negotiations,” he said.