GOP Sen. James Lankford Tells CNN Why He’s Voting Against His Own Bill: ‘This Is a Partisan Attempt’
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) explained to CNN host Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday why he will be voting against a bill to protect the southern border which he helped create.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced on Sunday that he would push once again to pass the bipartisan border protection bill which was rejected by the Senate earlier this year.
The bill failed to pass the Senate after many of Lankford’s Republican colleagues argued it would make the situation at the border worse – an argument Lankford repeatedly disproved. Lankford, in turn, accused his colleagues of killing the bill “because it’s a presidential election year.”
This week, however, Lankford made it clear that he would not be supporting Schumer’s attempt to revive the bill, accusing the Democrats of turning it into a political bludgeon.
Asked on CNN’s The Source why he would be voting in opposition to the bill this Thursday, Lankford said:
It’s no longer a bill. Now it’s a prop. We spent four months sitting down in a bipartisan way to be able to work out, “What do we think we can actually get passed?” Obviously I was not successful in getting something that could actually get passed. The problem still remains. Everyone knows that this bill is not going to pass and Senator Schumer is bringing it back up to try to bludgeon people.
Lankford predicted that more Democrats would vote against the bill this time around than previously, before proposing, “Let’s actually sit down like grown ups.”
“Let’s at least sit down and figure out what will pass,” he continued. “Let’s not just keep pulling the same bills up over and over again that we know are not gonna pass and pretend we’re doing something. We’re not getting it solved. Let’s sit down, let’s actually work this out, and let’s get it done.”
After Collins pointed out, “But Senator, you knew the first time that you voted for it that it also wasn’t going to pass then and you still did vote for it then,” Lankford replied:
That’s now several months ago. We know it’s not gonna pass again. Senator Schumer is just bringing this up for a political reason on it, and I’ve said, “Hey, Senator Schumer, if you want to actually pass something, let’s sit down and actually work this out.” But this is not a bipartisan attempt to be able to solve something.
Lankford concluded, “This is a partisan attempt for fundraising or for whatever attempt they’re trying to do.”
Watch above via CNN.
