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Democrats are again trying to pass the Border Act, which they
say would reform U.S. asylum laws, hire thousands of border
agents and help curtail fentanyl smuggling.
Record numbers of migrants have been caught crossing the
U.S.-Mexico border since Biden took office in 2021 and border
security has become one of the leading presidential campaign
issues ahead of the Nov. 5 election that will pit Biden against
former President Donald Trump.
In February, a version of the bill stalled in the Senate after
Trump told Republicans not to support it even though it
contained several border-security measures they had sought.
Biden and other Democrats said Trump undercut the bill in order
to keep the border debate alive during the campaign.
Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer on Sunday announced the
Senate would seek to pass the new bill this week, after which
the White House said it strongly supported the legislation.
In the president's calls to Johnson and Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell, Biden asked congressional Republicans to "stop
playing politics" and quickly pass the legislation, the White
House said.
Before the president reached out, leaders of the
Republican-controlled House of Representatives called the bill
politically motivated.
"Should it reach the House, the bill would be dead on arrival,"
Johnson and other Republicans said in a statement.
The previous legislation was tied to U.S. foreign aid for
Ukraine and Israel, but this bill would stand alone, Schumer
said.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington and Daniel Trotta in
Carlsbad, California; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
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