Senate border bill exposes Democratic divisions as White House attempts to ramp up pressure on GOP

The Senate will vote Thursday on a border security bill that is dividing the Democratic caucus and failed earlier this year, exposing rifts within the party even as they try to shift the narrative on border security.

The Senate will vote Thursday on a border security bill that is dividing the Democratic caucus and failed earlier this year, exposing rifts within the party even as they try to shift the narrative on border security. As immigration remains top of mind for voters, the White House and top congressional Democrats have discussed a series of moves aimed at strengthening their hand on border security ahead of the first presidential debate next month. Sources say those talks included reviving the stalled border security measure that initially failed after former President Donald Trump told GOP lawmakers to knock it down. Democrats have 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 stalls out a second time as expected. But without Ukraine tied to the measure, some Democrats and immigrant advocates are casting it as purely political and taking issue with key elements of the bill – one of the toughest border measures in recent memory. It’s a dynamic that threatens to undermine the messaging effort from Democrats and the White House. “I will not vote for the bill coming to the Senate floor this week because it includes several provisions that will violate Americans’ shared values. These provisions would not make us safe,” Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, said in a statement Tuesday. Booker voted to advance the bill in February when it failed 49-50. In his statement, Booker noted that the first time around the bill also included “critical foreign and humanitarian aid.”