Staff Reports
Mike Lee, a Republican senator from Utah, predicts that the pro-migration border bill is unlikely to pass the first cloture vote. In an interview with Breitbart News Daily, Lee expressed his confusion about the inclusion of border emergency authority in the bill. He argues that it is nothing more than smoke and mirrors and could potentially invite more illegal immigration.
.@SenMikeLee told Breitbart News Daily that it is “increasingly likely” that the pro-migration border bill does not make it through the first cloture vote. https://t.co/6UqYryyE3T
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) February 6, 2024
Lee raised several concerns about the bill, including the fact that the authority to shut down the border is not mandatory until there are 5,000 daily migrant encounters. He also highlighted the limitations on the number of days the border emergency authority can be invoked, as well as the power of the President and the Homeland Security Secretary to waive these limitations. Lee argues that these provisions do little to secure the border and may actually help drug cartels and human traffickers.
As more Republican senators express their opposition to the bill, Lee believes it is possible that it will fail the first cloture vote. He explains that a cloture vote is a vote to end debate and proceed to a bill, and it requires 60 votes to pass. Lee expects that most, if not all, Republicans will oppose cloture, including Senator McConnell and Senator Lankford. He criticizes the process of writing bills in secret and rushing them to a vote without allowing lawmakers or the public sufficient time to review the legislation.
