The White House focused on fentanyl trafficking at the U.S. southern border on Wednesday as it urged Republicans to pass the bipartisan border security bill when it is introduced in the Senate later this week.
In a memo titled “While President Biden Sides with the U.S. Border Patrol, Congressional Republicans Side with Fentanyl Traffickers,” Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates called on GOP lawmakers to choose to save lives instead of politics.
The memo comes ahead of a vote on the bipartisan border security bill in the upper chamber, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is planning for Thursday, three months after Republicans initially blocked it. the legislation.
“So Congressional Republicans have to choose: Will they decide again that politics is more important than stopping fentanyl traffickers and saving the lives of innocent voters?” Bates said Wednesday. “Joe Biden knows where he stands.”
Senate Republicans have vowed to block the bill, and no Republican senators have said they would vote for it. The project has been endorsed by the National Border Patrol Council and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Bates, in the memo, criticized Republicans for not passing the bipartisan border bill after former President Trump urged them to oppose it so the border would remain a major issue until Election Day.
He stressed that the legislation would fund machines to detect fentanyl in vehicles crossing the border and provide funding to hire new law enforcement personnel at the border.
“Instead of working to stop fentanyl trafficking, most congressional Republicans have suspended legislation to save American lives from fentanyl,” Bates said in the memo. “What’s worse is that these Republican members admitted that the bipartisan deal would work; and admitted they were completely opposed for political reasons, saying Donald Trump pressured them to vote ‘no’ for their own good.”
Biden spoke Monday with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to push for passage of the bill.
The legislation will likely fail, but it will give Democrats the ability to reverse the message during the campaign and blame the GOP for problems at the border. However, Republicans will continue to blame Biden and Democrats for the influx of migrants before November.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
