After years of saying he couldn’t do anything about the border, President Joe Biden suddenly realized he can. And he will.
Today, it was announced that the Biden administration is preparing executive actions to curb illegal border crossings – but the details are not entirely clear, with different reports suggesting different measures. Overall, however, Biden’s move clearly appears to be a political response to a campaign issue.
READ MORE: Biden expected to sign executive order closing borders and restricting asylum
However, the Biden administration’s weakness on the border is a concern for several of his allies in the Senate, and while the White House has invited Democratic senators to join Biden in announcing his recent executive actions, reports are now coming in that some of those colleagues – those in swing states – could plan to skip.
Several Democrats in the contested Senate race declined President Biden’s invitation to join him on Tuesday in the White House when he announced drastic recent measurewhich is intended to combat illegal border crossings, Axios has learned.
Why it is vital: Lawmakers in swing states have pushed for stricter border rules, but some may keep the president at a distance while consistently better poll ratings than he did in their states.
- The White House invited all Democratic senators will accompany Biden at an event where the recent executive actions will be announced. But at least Senators Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada) and Bob Casey (D-Penn.) — They are all seeking re-election in the swing states. — will not participate.
Some of these senators cited scheduling conflicts, but the overall message seems clear: They are hurting us.
The Biden plan will be similar to the rejected “bipartisan deal” from earlier this year, a deal that was flatly rejected by Republicans because it did not include a border closure. Instead, the measure would restrict border crossings once the number of asylum applications reaches a certain threshold.
Republicans are not coming to terms with this. They claim that there have already been too many border crossings and that the Biden administration is blatantly ignoring existing immigration laws.
The fact that vulnerable Democrats in the Senate feel their own president is hurting their poll numbers is a very bad sign for the incumbent president, who is himself up for re-election this year. They are looking at their own re-election and don’t see how supporting Biden’s re-election strategies could benefit them, which is an indication that they think he is toxic.
Of course, there is the possibility that this is just a series of scheduling conflicts, but all of the above-mentioned senators are in vulnerable states, and it seems that all of them are polling better than Biden in their own states.
It puts them – and Biden – in a arduous position if they can’t be seen with him. Biden urgently needs to show party unity now more than any other incumbent in recent memory. There are many signs that members of his party have no confidence in him. They also need to show their voters that they believe in the work Biden is doing to get as many Democratic voters as possible to vote in November.
But if they look at the data and conclude that they can do it without (if not despite) Biden, then he must extremely at risk in these states.
