Schumer Revives Border Bill Republicans Killed for A Second Vote
(TSN): Senator Chuck Schumer announced a Thursday vote to revisit the immigration border control plan that was rejected by Senate Republicans in February.
In his daily remarks at the Capitol he said, "THE SAME BILL NEGOTIATED THREE MONTHS AGO BY THE BIPARTISAN GROUP OF SENATORS MURPHY, SINEMA, AND LANKFORD. THE
SENATE WILL VOTE ON THIS BIPARTISAN BORDER BILL ON THURSDAY.
Pres. Joe Biden is using his "bully pulpit" to compel leaders on both sides to rally their caucuses to take action on fixing the border crisis.
Schumer said in a floor speech on Tuesday, " LAST NIGHT THE PRESIDENT CALLED BOTH LEADER McCONNELL AND SPEAKER JOHNSON AND URGED THEM TO GO FORWARD WITH OUR BILL. ALL THOSE WHO SAY WE NEED TO ACT ON THE BORDER WILL GET A CHANCE THIS WEEK TO SHOW THEY'RE SERIOUS ABOUT FIXING THE PROBLEM."
This particular bill was designed to stop border crossings and hire more border patrol agents, reflecting a balance of what both parties wanted. "UNLIKE H.R. 2, THE BIPARTISAN BORDER ACT WAS WRITTEN EXPLICITLY TO WIN SUPPORT FROM BOTH PARTIES WITH INPUT, SIGNIFICANT INPUT FROM BOTH SIDES," explained the Senate Leader.
When the Senate convenes on Thursday they will vote on a motion to reconsider which and on the motion to invoke cloture to proceed.
Senator Schumer's critics say it is a political ploy to give points to Pres. Joe Biden during an election year -- just to show that he and the Democrats made an effort on immigration and blame Republicans for leaving the nation vulnerable to unauthorized outsiders.
The Homeland Security Director Alejandro Mayorkas avoided an impeachment that alleged he mismanaged the border crisis yet, afterwards has not produced a different plan from the one that was initially presented or explicitly shown a push to improve. The plan was combined with an Israel and Ukraine aid package, which is one of the reasons why many lawmakers did not want to support it. Schumer hopes that as a standalone vote more bipartisan support may emerge.
However, senator Lankford , who was one of the craftsmen of the original comprehensive border patrol plan, says he is bowing out this time because he sees it as a "non-serious" gesture.
Republicans have campaigned off of border security and continue to say the they want to contain the dangers associated with border breaches. But Donald Trump said their cooperation would be giving a win to the Democrats. Sen. Mitch McConnel the Republican Leader from Kentucky confirmed that his party satiated Trump's desires in a comment on the failed bill back in April.
"We all felt that the border was a complete disaster, myself included,” McConnell said. “First there was an effort to make law, which requires you to deal with Democrats, and then a number of our members thought it wasn't good enough. And then our nominee for president didn't seem to want us to do anything at all."
The upcoming vote is expected to be dead on arrival.
