Republicans unite to block White House and Schumer backed 'fake border bill'
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Republicans in both chambers of Congress are preparing to band together to block any hope of a Democrat-backed border bill getting to the finish line.
In a letter to senators dated Sunday evening, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., revealed his plan to bring an immigration bill to the floor once again after it was rejected primarily by Senate Republicans in February.
"We are hopeful this bipartisan proposal will bring serious-minded Republicans back to the table to advance this bipartisan solution for our border," he wrote.
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He noted that he doesn't expect to get full support from either party, but described the border measure negotiated by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., and James Lankford, R-Okla., as "a tough, serious-minded, and – critically, bipartisan – proposal to secure our border."
The White House promptly backed Schumer's plan, with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre calling on "every senator to put partisan politics aside and vote to secure the border."
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Republicans were quick to push back on the majority leader's characterization of the bill. "The fake border bill will fail, again, because it does nothing to seriously secure the border – just cement outrageous levels of illegal immigration," wrote Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
"Ironically, some Democrats will vote against it, because even pretending to limit illegal immigration is a step too far for them," he added.
The bill failed a test vote in February, by a vote of 49-50, short of the 60 votes needed to proceed.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., slammed Democrats reviving the bill as "political theatre."
"He thinks this vote will make you think Republicans are to blame for Biden's border crisis," he wrote on X.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., similarly labeled Schumer's plan as "kabuki theater."
Republicans were quick to reject the negotiated legislation after hearing some of the elements and seeing the bill text, which many described as weak and even counterproductive.
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Lankford, who notably helped craft the bill, denounced last week the then-speculation of Schumer bringing the measure back to the floor. "Listen, if we're going to solve the border issues, it's not going to by doing competing messaging bills. If we're going to solve this, let's sit down like adults and let's figure out how we're going to actually resolve this together," he said in floor remarks.
Lankford was one of only four in his party to vote in favor of moving forward with the negotiated bill in February. It's unclear if he would support it again.
His fellow negotiator, Murphy, has led the charge to reconsider the bill. "Republicans don't care about fixing the border," he wrote Monday on X. "They want the border a mess because it helps them politically."
It's unlikely that the measure will be able to get 60 votes in order to move forward, spelling doom for the bill a second time. But if it were to get past the upper chamber, House Republican leadership made it clear it would be "dead on arrival" in its lower counterpart.
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In a statement, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and Republican conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said, "Leader Schumer is trying give his vulnerable members cover by bringing a vote on a bill which has already failed once in the Senate because it would actually codify many of the disastrous Biden open border policies that created this crisis in the first place."
They further highlighted several tougher illegal immigration and border bills that have been passed by the Republican-majority House. "If Senate Democrats were actually serious about solving the problem and ending the border catastrophe, they would bring up H.R. 2 and pass it this week," they said.
H.R.2 includes nearly all Republican priorities and has been disregarded by Democratic leaders. Schumer previously remarked that the bill was full of "hard-right border policies" and said it would never be able to pass through Congress.
Original article source: Republicans unite to block White House and Schumer backed 'fake border bill'
