WHAT THEY’RE SAYING: Senate Republicans “Block Border Security Bill,” Decide “Campaigning on Border Chaos Is Better Than Solving It”

Senate Republicans are facing scrutiny for again blocking overwhelmingly popular bipartisan border security legislation that would secure the border, crack down on fentanyl trafficking, and keep Americans safe.

Here’s what they’re saying:
The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle
May 23, 2024

Stephanie Ruhle: Senate Democrats gave Republicans another chance to pass an immigration bill and they rejected it. This was the very same bill they voted against in February. Even though it was a Republican who helped write this thing. Republicans, of course, led by Donald Trump, have decided campaigning on border chaos is better than solving it.

NBC News: Senate Republicans block border security bill as they campaign on border chaos
By Sahil Kapur and Kate Santaliz
May 23, 2024

• The vote caps a peculiar sequence of events after Senate Republican leaders insisted on a border security agreement last year and signed off on a compromise bill before they knifed it. 

CNN: Border bill fails in Senate for second time, blocked by GOP opposition
By Priscilla Alvarez, Lauren Fox, Clare Foran and Ted Barrett
May 23, 2024

• A sweeping bipartisan border security bill failed to advance in the Senate on Thursday, blocked by GOP opposition.

• Democrats pointed to the failure of the bill – which was negotiated on a bipartisan basis – to argue that Republicans are not serious about trying to fix problems at the southern border and are ready to ramp up that argument after the bill stalled out a second time.

The Guardian: Senate Republicans block bipartisan border security bill for a second time
By Lauren Gambino
May 23, 2024

• Republicans, who have repeatedly demanded Democrats act on the border, abandoned the compromise proposal at the behest of Donald Trump.

MSNBC: Senate Republicans reject border bill they asked for (yes, again)
By Steve Benen
May 23, 2024

• In February, Senate Republicans killed the bipartisan compromise on border policy that they’d requested. Given a second chance, they rejected it again.

• Republicans, acting at Donald Trump’s behest, killed the compromise plan they’d demanded.

• Democratic leaders gave senators a second opportunity. It did not go well for the bill’s proponents.

• The latest survey from Public Policy Polling, meanwhile, found strong support for the compromise bill in several battleground states, suggesting voters will be hearing quite a bit more about this in the months to come.

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