Democrats turn border compromise into a punching bag

Republicans and a few Democrats voted to tank legislation addressing immigration and border security on Thursday, as Democrats turned a bipartisan compromise into their newest punching bag.

The White House and its allies in the Senate see a political advantage in hammering Republicans over walking away from the table, and brought up the legislation which previously failed to pass the chamber in February again in the hopes of rubbing it in. The move left two of the compromise’s architects, Kyrsten Sinema and James Lankford, fuming. Both joined the effort to kill it; Sinema, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, joined six members of the president’s party in doing so.

“Today is not a bill. Today is a prop. Today is a political messaging exercise,” Lankford, a Republican, told The Hill. “That doesn’t help us as a country.”

Sinema, who called the vote “cynical”, added: «To use this failure as a political punching bag only punishes those who are courageous enough to do the hard work in the first place.”

The bill, like its predecessor, would have expanded the president’s authority to shut down the asylum system if unauthorized border crossings passed a certain monthy threshold. It would also have tightened standards for asylum-seekers and empowered US officials to remove those who did not qualify. Immigration is a key election issue for both sides, and Donald Trump had openly urged his party to kill the legislation earlier this year to avoid handing his opponent a victory on one of his favorite topics.

Democrats were already rubbing salt in the wound before the vote even occurred.

“Republicans are likely going to kill it because Trump told them to keep the border a mess because it helps Trump in the fall election,” said