The border bill that both Democrat and Republican Senate leaders pushed flopped in a floor vote, garnering only 43 votes, which is far short of the 60 votes needed to start debate or the 50 votes needed to pass.
Fifty Senators voted against the bill, and seven —including four GOP Senators — were absent.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) was the only Republican who voted for the business-backed bill, which would have accelerated the inflow of economic migrants via asylum and parole loopholes.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Six Democrats and independents joined the GOP no-votes on the doomed bill, likely because it allowed them to signal support for more radical policies without contributing to the bill’s failure. The Democrats and independents voting no were Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-CA), Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), who is credited with being an author of the bill.
Two Democrats facing tough 2024 elections — Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Sen. John Tester (D-MT) — voted for the cheap labor giveaway to business interests.
The public failure comes after Democrats insisted their loopholed bill was popular and effective, and the establishment media hid the pro-migration purpose of the bill, which was privately negotiated by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
The bill was revealed in February but quickly lost support once citizens read the details.
In May, Democrats revived the bill, and their media allies blamed Republicans — and former President Donald Trump — for the damage caused by the Democrats’ support for President Joe Biden’s easy-migration policies.
Despite the floor vote, Democrats are likely pleased with the Schumer-McConnell bill because it gives their candidates a way to spread the blame for their support of Biden’s policies.
“We were playing chess; they were playing checkers,” Schumer told Politico in February as Democrats loudly blamed Trump for the bill’s quick failure. “We also end up in much better [political] shape on the border than we were three months ago,” Schumer gloated.
After the February fiasco, McConnell announced he would retire from his leadership position at the end of 2024.
Since 2021, Biden has imported more than ten million legal, illegal, and quasi-legal migrants. The result has been lower wages, higher housing costs, higher interest rates, lower productivity, and greater civic chaos for 330 million Americans.
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In turn, Biden’s policies have prompted a major shift in public opinion on migration. For example, a majority of Americans say Biden’s migration can be described as an “invasion,” according to a 2022 poll.
However, Biden’s migration-fuelled economic policy also provides huge windfall gains for Democrat donors, including investors and federal and state government agencies, as well as urban retailers, landlords, and employers.