Liam Conner
Washington – House Republican leadership said Monday that a Senate effort to revive a border security measure that failed once is “dead on arrival” in the lower house. But the legislation may not make it out of the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Sunday in a letter to colleagues that the House this week would take up border legislation negotiated by a bipartisan group of senators earlier this year. The bill, which emerged as part of a broader foreign aid package, was quickly rejected by Republicans after former President Donald Trump voiced his opposition.
“At the right time, many of our Republican colleagues have abruptly reversed course from their previous support, announcing their newfound opposition to the bipartisan proposal,” Schumer said in the letter. “On the other hand, Democrats’ commitment to action has never wavered. That’s why the Senate is prepared to take up the bipartisan Borders Act as a standalone measure next week.”
The legislation, which would mark the first comprehensive review of border security policy in decades and give the president broad powers to crack down on illegal border crossings, emerged after months of negotiations. Schumer praised negotiators in his Sunday letter for achieving “the unthinkable: a bipartisan agreement on a comprehensive border security package.” He called the legislation “a tough, serious and –critically, bipartisan – proposal to protect our border.”
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Senate Democrats have emphasized their efforts to address border security in recent weeks, drawing attention to stalled border legislation in recent press conferences and placing blame on congressional Republicans for the lack of progress on this issue. The stance comes as border security has become a key feature of the Republican Party’s platform heading into the November elections, as Republicans have criticized the Biden administration and Democrats for their handling of the southern border.
According to a new CBS News survey which interviewed voters in some swing states in the 2024 elections, immigration is playing a central role for voters. In Arizona, surveyed by CBS News, most say President Biden has been “too soft” on migrants. While Trump’s policies are described as putting the interests of current U.S. citizens ahead of the interests of recent immigrants, many Arizonans say the same is not true of Biden’s policies.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended the president’s record in a statement Monday that expressed support for the Senate border bill, saying Biden, since his first day in office, has appealed to Congress to “fix our broken immigration system.”
“That’s why, earlier this year, your administration reached a bipartisan agreement on the toughest and fairest set of reforms in decades,” she said, adding that the White House “strongly” supports the legislation and encouraging all senators to “put party politics aside”. and vote to secure the border.”
At the State of the Union earlier this year, Biden appealed to House Republicans moving forward with the bill by saying “send me the border bill now!” It is a group of House Democrats earlier this month called on Biden to take executive action on the border, pointing to Republicans’ torpedoing of the border bill.
The legislation is still expected to fail in the Democratic-controlled Senate. With some expected defections among Democrats, in addition to continued opposition from the Republican Party, it will almost certainly not have the support necessary for approval.
Schumer acknowledged that he expected some Democrats to vote against the legislation, along with some Republicans. But he encouraged “serious Republicans” to come back to the table.
“Ultimately, the American people deserve political leaders who will work toward bipartisan solutions and that is what we are prepared to do in the United States Senate next week,” he said.
While it remains unlikely should the border bill pass the Senate, House leadership made clear in a statement Monday that it has no legs in the GOP-controlled lower chamber.
“If it reaches the House, the bill will be dead on arrival,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Whip Tom Emmer and GOP Chairwoman Elise Stefanik said in a statement.
“For more than three years, Congressional Democrats have stood by as the Biden administration opens our borders to criminal drug cartels, terrorists and untold millions of illegal immigrants,” the leaders said. “Now Leader Schumer is trying to provide cover for his vulnerable members by bringing a vote on a bill that already failed once in the Senate because it would actually codify many of Biden’s disastrous open border policies that created this crisis in the first place. .”
Alan He contributed reporting.
