Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is shifting into campaign mode, planning a series of messaging votes on border security, access to contraceptives and other hot-button issues.
The postponement reflects widespread recognition within the Senate that there is little chance of passing substantive legislation by Election Day as lawmakers prepare for a grueling campaign.
Schumer has largely avoided so-called “show votes” on bills that have little chance of passage because he has remained noiseless for most of this legislative session – and during the first two years in which Democrats hold the Senate majority in 2021 and 2022 wanted to focus on draft legislation that could actually become law.
But senators expect little more to be accomplished before the election beyond confirming judges and executive branch nominees, after Congress has already approved $61 billion in funding for Ukraine, the annual budget proposals for fiscal year 2024 and a five-year Extension of the powers of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
“The election is getting closer and closer,” said a Democratic senator who asked not to be identified to explain Schumer’s novel focus on getting votes.
“The question is, what can we do the rest of the year?” the lawmakers asked, noting that the top priorities — funding Ukraine, funding the administration, reauthorizing FISA warrantless surveillance and the FAA – have already been done.
Democrats are increasingly nervous about losing their Senate majority as novel polls last week showed President Biden trailing in fifth place Swing states – contested statesincluding Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania, which also has Senate elections.
Many Democratic senators are concerned that border security has become a political risk for Biden. However, they see an advantage over the Republicans on issues of women’s health, particularly abortion rights.
The The Senate will vote on it on Thursday to advance a bipartisan border security agreement that came to a vote in February as part of an emergency foreign development package and received just four Republican votes.
Senate Republicans, including bill co-author Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), say they will vote overwhelmingly Thursday to block the bill again, even though it was endorsed earlier this year by the National Border Patrol Council, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Wall Street Journal editorial board.
It’s an issue that Schumer and other Democrats say will be a good talking point in their campaign ads and in the fall, when they face a barrage of attacks from Republicans over border security.
“Three months ago, Donald Trump urged his Republican allies to block the strongest bipartisan border security bill in a generation. Fortunately, we are trying again tomorrow, and I hope Republicans will join us in achieving a different outcome this time,” Schumer said Wednesday.
Schumer tried to draw more attention to Thursday’s vote by previewing it earlier this month and holding a news conference on the topic Wednesday afternoon Flow of fentanyl across the southern border.
But Schumer and other Democrats are well aware that the bill is likely to attract no more than two or three Republican votes.
They know they have essentially no chance of getting Republicans to support any border security legislation or proposals to protect women’s reproductive health care. That’s why they plan to bombard their Republican colleagues with votes that convey political messages to them.
Schumer also announced on the Senate floor Wednesday that he I will hold a poll next month on the Birth Control Rights Act, with which Democrats hope to further highlight rulings by conservative judges that restrict women’s access to health care, including abortion.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), the chairwoman of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, said Democrats plan to highlight their policy and policy differences with Republicans on other issues, but declined to say what other messaging -Laws are pending.
“You’ll have to wait with bated breath to find out what happens next, but there will be more opportunities,” she said.
Republicans, however, are shrugging off the votes because they will not do much to protect vulnerable Democratic incumbents such as Senators Jon Tester (Democrat, Montana) and Sherrod Brown (Democrat, Ohio).
“This is really just a political ploy right now, and I think most people will see it that way,” said Senate Republican Whip John Thune (SD).
He said the issue was “ingrained” in many voters’ opinions of Republicans and Democrats, as polls showed voters were more likely to trust Republicans on border security.
“There is no possibility [Democrats] can run away from it. You own it. It belongs to their incumbents,” Thune said.
Lankford, the bill’s lead Republican author, said there is “no question” that the bill would improve the situation at the border. However, he added that Schumer is not introducing the bill with a heartfelt desire to get it passed.
“This is not about achieving something. Now it’s about sending messages,” he said.
Senate Democrats expect Schumer to hold additional votes later this year on other bills related to women’s access to health care and reproductive rights.
Schumer forced Republicans to vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act in May 2022 after a draft opinion on the Supreme Court’s majority ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which repealed abortion rights, was leaked to the public.
Republicans blocked that bill by a vote of 49-51, with some of them arguing that it went far beyond simply codifying the right to abortion established by Roe v. Wade in 1973.
Schumer also introduced a voting rights bill in the Senate in January 2021, even though it was abundantly clear that it would not receive enough support from the Republican Party to pass.
Democrats pushed the bill to highlight what they saw as Senate Republicans’ refusal to protect voting rights, particularly those of black voters, from a flood of novel restrictions at the state level.
But much of the 2022 election year, when Democrats still controlled the House of Representatives, was devoted to passing key bipartisan bills, including legislation to combat gun violence following the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and to bolster domestic semiconductor manufacturing.
