Senate Dems attempt to resurrect border invoice; Lee and Republicans say it is simply enjoying politics

SALT LAKE CITY — Senate Democratic management is bringing again a stand-alone border coverage package deal that was negotiated via a bipartisan effort earlier this 12 months, however the proposal is probably going lifeless on arrival within the face of robust opposition from many Republicans, together with Utah Sen. Mike Lee.

The proposal was initially tied to overseas help to Ukraine and Israel — which handed overwhelmingly as a stand-alone package deal final month — however that effort stalled after opposition from Senate Republicans and former President Donald Trump. Lee railed towards the border provisions in that proposal as a “sizzling mess,” and has come out swinging towards the most recent effort to revive its prospects.

“Joe Biden has the power to implement the border proper now underneath present regulation; he would not want any new payments to do it,” Lee stated in a video posted to X Monday night. “Just a few months in the past, there was a invoice that was introduced ahead — claimed to repair the border. It did not try this; if something it could make it worse. It could make it simpler for Joe Biden to proceed to not implement the border, so we rejected it.”

“For some bizarre purpose, Chuck Schumer is insisting on bringing that invoice up at present,” he continued, referencing the Democrat and Senate majority chief from New York. “I’ve received a greater thought, Chuck. Why do not we simply have Joe Biden implement the legal guidelines on the books somewhat than move new legal guidelines to make it simpler to permit extra lawlessness?”

“I will be voting ‘heck no!'” he stated in an earlier publish.

If Schumer cares concerning the border

He ought to inform Biden to implement the regulation

Biden already has authority to repair it

The invoice Schumer’s pushing this week

Would make issues worse

Quite a bit worse pic.twitter.com/Doxz4j4f5F

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) May 21, 2024

The invoice would make a number of modifications to immigration coverage by making it tougher to achieve asylum in the USA and including detention beds, Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers and deportation flights, Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, stated in February. Lankford led Republican negotiations on the invoice.

If handed, the proposal would additionally successfully shut the border if the common variety of migrants in a given week surpassed a threshold of 5,000.

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney was supportive of the preliminary border proposal however stated on Monday the return of the invoice is a “political trick” and the president ought to take motion to stem the circulation of migrants.

“I believe it is higher than what we now have now, however we have already voted on it and so, at this stage, it is a little bit political sport that Chief Schumer is enjoying. And I presume that we’ll all vote no, however I have not given it a lot thought,” he informed reporters on Capitol Hill.

Requested if Biden ought to take initiative on behalf of the invoice, Romney stated: “I believe it is too late. I believe if he cared concerning the border, he would have taken motion a very long time in the past. The truth that we have been flooded with unlawful immigrants and he is stood by watching is one thing that he cannot get out from beneath.”

Nonetheless, Romney stated he was undecided as to how he would vote this time round.

“I am going to hear what our colleagues should say,” he stated. “I imply, I help the invoice. I’ve supported it earlier than. However given the truth that it is a political trick, we may all vote no on it.”

In a letter to senators Sunday, Schumer famous the proposal is backed by the Nationwide Border Patrol Council and the Chamber of Commerce.

“The Border Act overhauls our asylum legal guidelines, hires 1000’s of latest border brokers, invests in leading edge know-how to cease the circulation of fentanyl and provides the president new authorities to shut the border,” he wrote.

Schumer blamed Trump for the collapse of earlier negotiations, saying the “former president made clear he would somewhat protect the difficulty for his marketing campaign than remedy the difficulty in a bipartisan vogue. On cue, lots of our Republican colleagues abruptly reversed course on their prior help, asserting their newfound opposition to the bipartisan proposal.”

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, the Democratic negotiator on the invoice, spoke with Schumer at a information convention final week.

“If Republicans assume this case on the border is an emergency, then let’s give them one other probability to do the suitable factor,” he stated, in response to the New York Instances.