Doing nothing is not an option.
Republicans have to decide. For years,
they said they want to secure the border.
Now they have the strongest border bill this country has
ever seen.
That was President Biden earlier today urging Congress to pass
a border security bill that is currently being hashed out
in the US Senate.
It has not gone to the House yet.
He is blaming former President Donald Trump for the pushback
that's coming from House Republicans who say that this will
normalize large amounts of entries into the country,
perhaps up to 5000 a day.
Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema is one of three senators negotiating
this bill.
FOX 10's Marissa Sarbach spoke with her
one-on-one today as she goes head to head with other
politicians over the path forward.
Yeah, John. And it seems to be a fight at
this point between some of the senators and some members
of the House of Representatives.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has repeatedly said that
this bill is dead on arrival,
and he says this would actually make the situation at
the border worse.
This administration has shown the American people that it will
exploit any measure to keep the border open.
And the lead Democrat negotiator of this bill made clear
to everybody,
under this bill, quote, the border never closes.
That's what he said. Senator Murphy Arizona independent Kirsten Cinema
negotiated the bill with Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy and Oklahoma
Republican James Lankford.
Cinema argues it'll clean up the process for true asylum
seekers,
adding more detention beds for those crossing and hiring more
agents for processing migrants.
But if 4000 people come to the border on a
daily basis for seven days in a row,
then the system is overwhelmed and we shut down the
border and we keep it shut for a long enough
time to be able to process all those people who've
come to claim asylum. The Speaker of the House says
all it does is encourage more illegal immigration.
You don't want to tell people around the world to
come on in over the border.
We'll give you work, and by the way,
we'll put most of you on public assistance so that
the American taxpayer can use spend billions and billions and
billions of dollars to
feed, house and clothe and educate you.
Johnson says it endorses Biden's catch and release policy.
Cinema claims it does the opposite,
comparing the bill to the Trump administration Title 42 policy
with one key difference.
Individuals could come and approach the border every day,
over and over again. They would get turned around,
but there was no penalty.
The bipartisan legislation has received support from the Border Patrol
Council,
their union, but the deal comes with a hefty price
tag,
with a national debt currently at 34 trillion.
This package also includes 60 billion in aid to Ukraine,
14 billion to Israel, and another 10 billion in foreign
humanitarian aid.
Cinema believes they're all tied together.
I believe that border policy is a national security issue.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has it set for a
test vote on Wednesday,
but there is a chance that it could get pushed
until Thursday.
Reporting live tonight, Marissa Sarbach for Fox 10 News.