On Thursday, the Democrat-controlled Senate once again rejected a border security bill that failed to pass earlier this year.
The “Border Act,” which got blocked in February when linked to foreign aid, failed to meet the 60-vote threshold as a standalone measure to have the upper chamber invoke cloture and proceed with consideration.
Fifty members voted against advancing the bill, while only 43 members voted in favor of moving forward with the legislation, which Democrats resurrected this month.
One of the members who spent months helping to craft the bill, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), came out against how leadership handled reviving the legislation.
“I’m making it very clear with my vote that this is a stunt — not an attempt to do anything,” Lankford told Newsmax. “And I’m going to be interested in how many Democrats walk away from this.”
Another negotiator, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), delivered a floor speech claiming that Democrats and Republicans have chosen “political theater” over real progress.
The bill seeks to tighten up the asylum process and shore up border security to get a grip on the migrant crisis, but many GOP lawmakers argued it would codify President Joe Biden’s “open border” policies.
House Republicans warned the bill would be “dead on arrival” if it came their way and pushed for the Senate to instead pass H.R. 2, a more stringent border security bill they passed last year that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has refused to take up for consideration.
Immigration is a top issue heading into the presidential election this November.
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Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) released a statement after the vote on Thursday, saying Schumer “should join House Republicans in demanding President Biden reverse course and use his executive authority to finally secure the border and protect American families.”
Top Democrats accused Republicans of stopping progress toward a solution.
“While the GOP isn’t interested today in getting this done — we’ll keep trying. It’s too important to our national security, our communities, our country,” Schumer said on X after the vote on Thursday.
Biden claimed Republicans “do not care about securing the border or fixing America’s broken immigration system,” and said he remains “committed to taking action” to address the issue.
