In remarks from the White House, Biden called the bill “the most fair, humane reforms in our immigration system in a long time and the toughest set of reforms to secure the border ever.”
He continued, “Now, all indications are this bill won’t even move forward to the Senate floor. Why? A simple reason: Donald Trump. Because Donald Trump thinks it’s bad for him politically.”
Biden said that Trump would “rather weaponize this issue than actually solve it.” He said that he’s been told that for the last 24 hours, Trump has done nothing but reach out to Republicans in the House and Senate “and threaten them and try to intimidate them to vote against this proposal.”
“Looks like they’re caving,” Biden said. “Frankly, they owe it to the American people to show some spine, and do what they know to be right.”
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and others acknowledged hours after Biden’s remarks that the bill they helped negotiate was dead, even after McConnell and the top GOP negotiator, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., signed off on it.
During his remarks, Biden highlighted the provisions within the legislation, negotiated by Lankford and Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., and argued that it would make the country safer and the border more secure.
Biden said that, just months ago, Republicans requested the exact bill that was negotiated and “now they’re saying nevermind.” He warned that if Congress fails to pass the package, he will make it absolutely clear to the American people “why it failed.”
“Every day, between now and November, the American people are gonna know that the only reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican friends,” Biden said, adding that Republicans need to show a little “courage” and ignore Trump’s pleas to block the bill.
The president also emphasized the bill’s importance in that it would provide aid that Israel, the Palestinians in Gaza and Ukraine desperately need. He even said that it “indirectly” has to do with a potential deal to secure the release of hostages still being held in Gaza.
The Senate is expected to take a procedural vote Wednesday that will require 60 votes to advance the measure, which also includes aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. But after a closed-door meeting Monday night, Republican senators predicted that they would not have the votes to move forward with the bill.
“I would anticipate Wednesday the cloture vote does not pass,” Lankford told reporters after the meeting. “People are saying, ‘Hey, I need a lot more time to be able to go through this.'”
By Tuesday, McConnell said that the bill “will not become law,” though he praised Lankford’s efforts.
“We had a very robust discussion about whether or not this product could ever become law and it’s been made pretty clear to us by the speaker, that it will not become law.” McConnell said.“So, I wanted to congratulate Senator Lankford on a remarkable job of negotiating with the other side, getting the support of the Border Council. But it looks to me, and to most of our members, is that we have no real chance here to make a law.”
House Republican leaders had said that the legislation is “dead on arrival” in the lower chamber and Trump has been publicly urging lawmakers from his party to tank it, saying that it would be a “gift” to Biden and Democrats in an election year.
“I cannot vote for this bill,” said Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso, the third highest-ranking member of his caucus, said Tuesday. Barrasso, who is also the highest-ranking Senate Republican to endorse Trump for re-election, added, “Americans will turn to the upcoming election to end the border crisis.”
Since the beginning of his administration, Biden has called on Congress to pass legislation to address the nation’s broken immigration system. The deal that Lankford negotiated came after Republicans said they would only agree to pass funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as requested by the administration, if Biden agreed to tougher border security measures.
Murphy, the lead Democratic negotiator in border talks, told reporters Tuesday that there was “no” hope left for the bill because “Republicans have definitively sided with Donald Trump.”
“They have decided they want to keep chaos at the border because it is a political winner for them,” Murphy said. “They have decided against a bipartisan breakthrough bill that could have, would have, fixed the border, that would have fixed a broken asylum.”
“Republicans didn’t even give it two days before they ran for the hills,” he added. “Why? Because Donald Trump told them that they need to preserve chaos at the border. I think that’s so unfortunate for this entire country.”
Meanwhile, House Republican leaders are planning to hold a vote Tuesday on a standalone Israel aid bill, which will require a two-thirds majority to pass. It faces an uphill climb due to opposition from House conservatives as well as fierce criticism from Democratic leadership and a veto threat from Biden who have accused Johnson of playing politics on the issue after rejecting the broader immigration, Ukraine and Israel package.
Johnson told reporters that Israel and Ukraine funding should be dealt with “independently and separately” while giving no indication that Ukraine aid has a path through the House. He said Republicans want more details from the administration on the endgame for Ukraine but insisted: “That’s not been abandoned.”
FREDERICTON – A look at Blaine Higgs, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick.
Born: March 1, 1954.
Early years: The son of a customs officer, he grew up in Forest City, N.B., near the Canada-U.S. border.
Education: Graduated from the University of New Brunswick with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1977.
Family: Married his high-school sweetheart, Marcia, and settled in Saint John, N.B., where they had four daughters: Lindsey, Laura, Sarah and Rachel.
Before politics: Hired by Irving Oil a week after he graduated from university and was eventually promoted to director of distribution. Worked for 33 years at the company.
Politics: Elected to the legislature in 2010 and later served as finance minister under former Progressive Conservative Premier David Alward. Elected Tory leader in 2016 and has been premier since 2018.
Quote: “I’ve always felt parents should play the main role in raising children. No one is denying gender diversity is real. But we need to figure out how to manage it.” — Blaine Higgs in a year-end interview in 2023, explaining changes to school policies about gender identity.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
GATINEAU, Que. – Treasury Board President Anita Anand will take on the additional role of transport minister this afternoon, after Pablo Rodriguez resigned from cabinet to run for the Quebec Liberal leadership.
A government source who was not authorized to speak publicly says Anand will be sworn in at a small ceremony at Rideau Hall.
Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos will become the government’s new Quebec lieutenant, but he is not expected to be at the ceremony because that is not an official role in cabinet.
Rodriguez announced this morning that he’s leaving cabinet and the federal Liberal caucus and will sit as an Independent member of Parliament until January.
That’s when the Quebec Liberal leadership race is set to officially begin.
Rodriguez says sitting as an Independent will allow him to focus on his own vision, but he plans to vote with the Liberals on a non-confidence motion next week.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
FREDERICTON – New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has called an election for Oct. 21, signalling the beginning of a 33-day campaign expected to focus on pocketbook issues and the government’s provocative approach to gender identity policies.
The 70-year-old Progressive Conservative leader, who is seeking a third term in office, has attracted national attention by requiring teachers to get parental consent before they can use the preferred names and pronouns of young students.
More recently, however, the former Irving Oil executive has tried to win over inflation-weary voters by promising to lower the provincial harmonized sales tax by two percentage points to 13 per cent if re-elected.
At dissolution, the Conservatives held 25 seats in the 49-seat legislature. The Liberals held 16 seats, the Greens had three and there was one Independent and four vacancies.
J.P. Lewis, a political science professor at the University of New Brunswick, said the top three issues facing New Brunswickers are affordability, health care and education.
“Across many jurisdictions, affordability is the top concern — cost of living, housing prices, things like that,” he said.
Richard Saillant, an economist and former vice-president of Université de Moncton, said the Tories’ pledge to lower the HST represents a costly promise.
“I don’t think there’s that much room for that,” he said. “I’m not entirely clear that they can do so without producing a greater deficit.” Saillant also pointed to mounting pressures to invest more in health care, education and housing, all of which are facing increasing demands from a growing population.
Higgs’s main rivals are Liberal Leader Susan Holt and Green Party Leader David Coon. Both are focusing on economic and social issues.
Holt has promised to impose a rent cap and roll out a subsidized school food program. The Liberals also want to open at least 30 community health clinics over the next four years.
Coon has said a Green government would create an “electricity support program,” which would give families earning less than $70,000 annually about $25 per month to offset “unprecedented” rate increases.
Higgs first came to power in 2018, when the Tories formed the province’s first minority government in 100 years. In 2020, he called a snap election — the first province to go to the polls after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — and won a majority.
Since then, several well-known cabinet ministers and caucus members have stepped down after clashing with Higgs, some of them citing what they described as an authoritarian leadership style and a focus on policies that represent a hard shift to the right side of the political spectrum.
Lewis said the Progressive Conservatives are in the “midst of reinvention.”
“It appears he’s shaping the party now, really in the mould of his world views,” Lewis said. “Even though (Progressive Conservatives) have been down in the polls, I still think that they’re very competitive.”
Meanwhile, the legislature remained divided along linguistic lines. The Tories dominate in English-speaking ridings in central and southern parts of the province, while the Liberals held most French-speaking ridings in the north.
The drama within the party began in October 2022 when the province’s outspoken education minister, Dominic Cardy, resigned from cabinet, saying he could no longer tolerate the premier’s leadership style. In his resignation letter, Cardy cited controversial plans to reform French-language education. The government eventually stepped back those plans.
A series of resignations followed last year when the Higgs government announced changes to Policy 713, which now requires students under 16 who are exploring their gender identity to get their parents’ consent before teachers can use their preferred first names or pronouns — a reversal of the previous practice.
When several Tory lawmakers voted with the opposition to call for an external review of the change, Higgs dropped dissenters from his cabinet. And a bid by some party members to trigger a leadership review went nowhere.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
