The bill is likely to fail for a second time, but Democrats will try to use Republicans‘ resistance to shift the narrative on border security in their favor.
The Senate is expected to vote Thursday on a that Republicans blocked earlier this year after former President Donald Trump announced his opposition to it.
The bill is likely to fail for a second time, but Democrats will try to use Republicans‘ resistance to shift public opinion in their favor as polls show voters have been critical of President Biden’s handling of immigration. Border security has been a central theme of the Republican platform heading into the November election.
„We’ll see who’s serious about actually wanting to fix the border … and those who prefer to merely talk about it,“ Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech Wednesday.
Sen. Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, argued that Republicans who vote against the measure „forfeit their right to discuss the border and to turn it into a partisan political issue.“
„I’m angry because I got texts from my colleagues on the Republican side saying, ‚Look, you guys need to get serious about the border,'“ Schatz said during a news conference on Wednesday with a handful of his Democratic colleagues. „Some of the Republicans that I respect the most were really forceful with us, and so we listened. We developed a piece of legislation that I don’t love, but I know is tough enough to get the job done.
