Embarrassment for Chuck Schumer as his second attempt to pass the $22.5 billion border bill stunningly fails…leaving Joe Biden in trouble

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s second attempt to revive a border security bill failed spectacularly on Thursday, as even more Democrats joined Republicans to thwart his effort.

The liberal leader sought to ease pressure on his more vulnerable Democratic colleagues, whose voters are upset by Biden’s border policies that have led to record illegal immigration.

But his plan failed when Democrats joined Republicans in shooting down the effort on a 43-50 vote.

In many states, immigration is the top issue for voters, who say the additional 10 million migrants brought in under Biden — called “newcomers” by the White House — are putting pressure on states.

Republicans, meanwhile, have insisted Biden does not need new laws to secure the border and point to the 94 executive actions he has taken to undo Trump’s border policies.

But Biden and the White House, along with Press Sec, have declined to take executive action to secure the border. Karine Jean-Pierre responded incredulously to reporters: “Why would he?”

The measure was brought up again after it failed in February, when the Republican Party (at the direction of Donald Trump) criticized the measure for inadequate border security reforms.

But Schumer gets a positive edge from the border bill burnout: He and his fellow Democrats get to tell their voters they tried.

Whether that message will be well received by voters is an entirely different question.

The measure would have provided $22.5 billion for border security measures and was negotiated for months by Senate Republicans and Democrats before being unveiled in February.

The Border Act would reform U.S. asylum laws, hire thousands of border agents and try to curb fentanyl smuggling, among other things, Schumer’s office said.

The bill would have provided $2.3 billion in U.S. refugee aid and $20.2 billion for improvements to U.S. border security.

But earlier in the week, before easing pressure on the drilling bill, Republicans emphasized that the status quo would be more effective than the Border Act.

“This bill is worse than doing nothing,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said of the bill Wednesday.

He and a group of other Republicans laid out their case against the bill at a news conference hosted by Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.

“It’s not a border, and it’s not a border security law,” she said during Wednesday’s news conference.

“This is an election-year political stunt designed to give our Democratic colleagues the appearance of doing something about the problem without actually doing anything.”

“We are a nation of law and order, and yet the Biden administration has allowed more than 10 million illegal aliens to flood across our border, which exceeds the population of seven major U.S. cities, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, LA Knoxville, Memphis Nashville, together,” she continued.

She and her colleagues made it clear: reviving the already defeated border bill is just an attempt to give campaign fodder to Senate Democrats, who risk losing their seats in Congress.

“Whether it’s John Tester, or any other Democrats up for re-election in the purple states, the American people will hold them accountable,” Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said at the event.

Sens. John Tester, D-Mont., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Bob Casey, D-Pa., Jack Rosen, D-Ne., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., are all said to be in hot water with voters in their states on immigration.

In May 2023, Republicans in the House of Representatives passed a border bill that they believe would appropriately address what they claim is a “border crisis,” but that measure, HR2, has not been touched by the Democrats controlled Senate.

Trying to explain the difference to voters, Schumer said on the Senate floor Wednesday: “Tomorrow, senators face an important decision: Will both parties come together to propose a bipartisan border security bill, or will partisanship return?” stand in the way of?’

“Unlike HR 2, a highly partisan bill, this bipartisan bill was written with the goal of getting 60 votes in the Senate. There was input from both Republicans and Democrats. HR 2 cannot claim that. It was “put together entirely by Republicans and received virtually no Democratic support,” the New York Democrat added.

But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., later shot down those claims in his floor remarks.

“The American people will not be fooled. They know that the president’s sudden reversal of common-sense border authorities created the crisis,” he said Wednesday.

“And they know the solution isn’t cynical Senate theater.”

“The solution is a president who is willing to exercise authority, use the tools we already have at his disposal and clean up this mess,” McConnell continued.

“If Senate Democrats wanted to start resolving the crisis tomorrow, they would urge the president to do just that.”

Earlier that day, Democrats blocked consideration of Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo.’s Build The Wall Act, which would have completed construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border using unspent funds for the COVID-19 pandemic. 19 pandemic.

“The Democrats on this body have done nothing to secure the border. They have done nothing to stop the flow of illegal immigrants,” Barrasso said Wednesday.