Eye on Politics: Bipartisan border bill fails as standoff in Eagle Pass continues
Border politics continues to dominate Washington and Texas. The two leading candidates in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate lay out their differences. And Gov. Abbott gets involved in a hotly contested Republican primary race for Texas House.
Jack Fink covers these stories and more in the latest edition of Eye on Politics (original air date: Feb. 11).
Border issues continue making headlines
The border security bill introduced in the U.S. Senate last week took months to be negotiated, but just days to be rejected by 45 Republicans and five Democrats.
The legislation came about after Congressional Republicans insisted on tying border security measures with any more military funding for Ukraine in its war against Russia. The bill also included military funding for Israel, Taiwan and humanitarian assistance for Palestinians in Gaza.
But on Wednesday, senators fell short of the 60 votes required to start debating it. The proposal appeared to be doomed after former President Donald Trump urged Republicans to oppose it. House Republican leaders also called the bill "dead on arrival" in the lower chamber, and called on President Biden to instead take executive action on the border.
Among the bill's supporters the Border Patrol union, which has been very critical of President Joe Biden's policies along the southern border.
Among the provisions in the bill:
- When the average number of crossings exceeds 5,000 people/week, everyone crossing illegally would be deported rapidly without an asylum hearing.
- It places more restrictions on those who are eligible for asylum in the U.S.
- It establishes an expedited removal authority to ensure migrants who crossed illegally are removed within 90 days and not released into the country for years.
The three senators who negotiated the bill with the Biden administration spoke out about the political aftermath:
"We understood from the beginning it's not going to be perfect, but we also knew the status quo was untenable," said Sen. James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican. "We have to do something."
"House Republicans understand that the only way anything can pass with a Democratic Senate and a Democrat in the White House is that it be bipartisan in the Senate," said Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut. "We realize that. That's why we came together."
Meanwhile Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent from Arizona, accused some of using the border crisis for their own political agendas.
"If you want to continue to use the southern border as a backdrop for your political campaign, that's fine," she said. "But I have a very clear message for anyone using the southern border for staged political events. Don't come to Arizona. Take your political theater to Texas."
Both senators from Texas came out against the bill:
"I think a Republican leader should actually lead this conference and should advance the priorities of Republicans," said Sen. Ted Cruz.
"I've said from the beginning that I would only support an agreement or proposal that would make significant policy changes," said Sen. John Cornyn. "By that I mean reduce the influx of humanity coming across the border. This proposal does not meet that requirement."
Meanwhile, Gov. Greg Abbott held two press conferences in Eagle Pass last week. Last Sunday, he was joined by governors from across the country, who were there to show support for Texas' border security efforts.
CBS News Texas reporter Jason Allen was there. You can watch his full report below and watch his debrief with Jack in this week's full episode.
Abbott was back in Eagle Pass on Thursday, along with 22 Republican state lawmakers.
"We are working on expansion plans to expand the successful operations that we've seen at certain locations that deter illegal immigration," he said during a news conference. "The National Guard is relentless. On a daily basis, they're adding more razor wire barrier, more anti-climb barrier ... other ways to repel people from trying to enter illegally."
So what impact have illegal border crossings have on the city of Eagle Pass?
During a State Senate Finance Committee hearing last October, Texas Border Czar Mike Banks said the number of migrants that crossed the border into the city the previous month put a strain on its resources.
"A city of 28,000, depending on the estimate, receiving over 50,000 migrants. It drained their fire services, it drained their EMS services, it drained their hospitals," Banks said. "We can't have that unabated flow."
Abbott has said that because of the state's border security efforts, more migrants are heading to Arizona instead.
We checked, and the most recent statistics from U.S. Border patrol show from October through December, more than 629,000 people were apprehended on the southern border.
More than 308,000 were apprehended in five sectors that include Texas.
200,000 migrants were caught in the Tucson sector of Arizona.
The Del Rio sector in Texas had the second-most apprehensions with more than 152,000.
Republican primary for Texas House District 60
It's political payback time for the 21 Republicans in the Texas House who rejected taxpayer-financed education savings accounts — a priority pushed by Gov. Greg Abbott.
In response, Abbott is not endorsing them for reelection, and in some cases is campaigning for the their challengers in the Republican primary.
That's the case in House District 60, which is in Parker, Palo Pinto and Stephens counties.
Watch Jack's full profile of the race in this week's episode of Eye on Politics.
Democratic primary for U.S. Senate
Democrats are hoping this November to unseat two-term Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz.
While nine Democrats are running, we spoke with the two leading candidates: North Texas Congressman Colin Allred and State Sen. Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio.
Some analysts believe it's Allred's primary to lose. He's raised far more money than both Gutierrez and Cruz, and he has a big lead in the most recent primary poll.
But more than one third of those surveyed say they're still undecided.
Every week, CBS News Texas political reporter Jack Fink breaks down some of the biggest political stories grabbing headlines in North Texas and beyond. Watch the latest episode of Eye on Politics in the video player above and watch new episodes every Sunday at 7:30 a.m. on air and online.
