Ron Johnson claims failed border bill was ‘political ploy’ for Schumer

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) claimed the failed U.S.-Mexico border bill, which was downed again in the Senate this week, was a “political ploy” for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in comments that aired Sunday.

Johnson slammed Schumer for bringing the border bill again for a vote, saying the Democrats are trying to “obtain political cover” over the current developments at the southern border and that the Senate majority leader is “disingenuous” regarding his negotiations on this issue. 

“We just had to witness another charade — a political ploy — on the part of Chuck Schumer as they’re trying to obtain political cover for their open-border policies that is a catastrophe and a clear and present danger to America,” Johnson said in an interview with radio talk show host John Catsimatidis on WABC 770 AM’s “Cats Roundtable.”

“So, he brought back up the bill that failed […] in February,” Johnson continued. “Just to prove how disingenuous he is, after the bill failed the last time, Chuck Schumer [said] … ‘We are playing chess. They are playing checkers. And we got our Ukraine bill. And we are in much better shape on the border than we were three months ago.’” 

Johnson also claimed the negotiations were not done in “good faith” by Schumer.

“If you’re negotiating in good faith […] if those negotiations fail, are you going to rub your negotiating partner’s nose in the failure the way Chuck Schumer was rubbing McConnell‘s nose [in it]? … No. So, they weren’t good-faith negotiations.” 

The upper chamber voted down, again, the bipartisan border legislation on Thursday with a 43-50 vote. The bill, which was negotiated for months by Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), was already expected to fail. This time around, fewer members supported the legislation as the last time as it was quashed with a 49-50 tally in February. 

Lankford, who was the lead negotiator on the GOP side, said the legislation was a “prop” before voting against it on Thursday. Schumer repeatedly mentioned in the last few weeks that he wanted to put the border bill up for a vote to try to emphasize that former President Trump and his backers shut down the legislation for political purposes and that Democrats want to take the initiative on the issue. 

Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, told Catsimatidis that Biden, who has been criticized by Republicans over his administration’s handling of the issue, will not “secure” the U.S.-Mexico border and the president has “better” standing on the issue now since he has “political cover.”  

“Secondly, if he really wants to secure the border, how can he make that last statement,” Johnson said. “The Democrats are in better shape on the border than they were three months ago? [Their bill] didn’t pass! Biden is not going to secure the border. The only reason that he’s in better shape is that he got the political cover he was looking for. And that’s all he’s doing here — he’s trying to reinforce that political cover that unfortunately those negotiations gave him.”