Senate Democrats’ lead negotiator announced that a border deal has been struck, but the cabal crafting it will continue to hide the details until the last minute.
“We have a deal,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) announced on X on Friday morning, forecasting that the Senate will continue withholding the details despite barreling forward with a vote.
“This weekend we will release the bill and vote next week,” he said.
Republicans said the border is a priority and we should craft a bipartisan bill to help control the border.
We did that. We have a deal.
This weekend we will release the bill and vote next week.
It’s decision time.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) February 2, 2024
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced Thursday that the bill’s details would be released no later than Sunday so that, on Monday morning, he could pull the parliamentary triggers necessary to expedite a vote. Even on an expedited schedule, due to Senate rules, the first vote to advance the bill would likely be Wednesday, with a final vote expected Thursday or Friday.
In that Wednesday procedural vote, the 51 Senate Democrats would need nine Republicans to join them in voting to end further debate and move forward with a vote on final passage.
If Republicans band together, they could slow down the process without immediately killing the bill, enabling further analysis and even alterations to the bill.
The accelerated timeline reinforced deal skeptics’ predictions that the deal’s champions will force a vote upon them quickly before the deal is sufficiently analyzed and opposition from the grassroots can mobilize.
The Senate Republican conference agreed that two to three weeks are needed to properly review any deal’s ramifications, passing a resolution brought forward by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT).
“GOP conference passed my resolution that we need time to debate and amend whatever bill we’re given,” Lee posted on X before the deal was announced. “A single weekend doesn’t count.”
It remains to be seen if Lee’s Republican colleagues will abide by their agreement or surrender to Schumer’s demands. But Murphy signaled that the members of the Senate, once called “the world’s greatest deliberative body,” must decide immediately where they stand.
“It’s decision time,” Murphy said.
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.
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