White House presses Senate Democrats to support border security bill
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday urged senators to pass a border security bill expected to come up for a vote this week after Republicans blocked the measure earlier this year.
"This bipartisan border legislation would deliver the significant policy changes, resources, and personnel needed to secure our border and make our country safer," Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
She cited funding for thousands of additional Border Patrol agents, investments in technology to catch fentanyl and target drug traffickers and the addition of asylum officers and immigration officers who could help relieve the backlog of asylum cases as reasons the bill would alleviate the situation at the border.
"We strongly support this legislation and call on every senator to put partisan politics aside and vote to secure the border," Jean-Pierre said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced Sunday that the Senate will take up the bipartisan border deal as a standalone measure this week.
The vote is all but certain to fail amid opposition on both sides of the aisle, but it will allow Democratic leaders to flip the messaging switch on Republicans as the border dominates chatter on the campaign trail.
The bill was negotiated by Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.). President Biden had previously endorsed the bill, calling it a strong compromise where no side got everything it wanted.
A majority of the Republican conference earlier this year voted against advancing the legislation after former President Trump urged GOP lawmakers to oppose the measure, indicating it would give Biden a political win.