Count Elon Musk among the many people who are against the bipartisan border bill the Senate unveiled over the weekend.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla, took to the social media platform X — which he also owns — to criticize the details of the bill, which would allow as many as 8,500 illegal immigrants to enter the U.S. before the southern border is automatically shut down.
“The long-term goal of the so-called ‘Border Security’ bill is enabling illegals to vote!” Musk wrote. “It will do the total opposite of securing the border.”
But, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) was having none of that.
Lankford, one of the sponsors of the bill, was asked directly about those comments during an appearance on CNN Monday. He responded by saying that Musk should focus more on his electric car company, which recently was forced to recall more than 2 million vehicles due to small warning lights.
“No, it’s not focused on trying to be able to get more illegals to vote. That’s absurd,” Lankford said of the bill. “It’s against the law for anyone that is not a citizen of the United States to be able to vote in the United States in any federal election. Obviously, we’re not dealing with that.”
WOW. When challenged by Elon Musk’s criticism of the border bill, Senator Lankford attacks Musk over “2 million Teslas getting recalled.” pic.twitter.com/ZDS3Se8SuV
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) February 5, 2024
Despite Lankford’s push for this border security bill — which he negotiated with Sens.
Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) — it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere.
Senate Republicans announced on Tuesday that they would be blocking the motion that would begin debate on the bill in the upper chamber. This means that not only will the proposed extra funding for U.S. border security be in limbo, but so, too, will military aid to Ukraine and Israel.
Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the Senate minority whip, said GOP senators said “they want more time to evaluate” the bill before they vote on it. Once the senators do have time to peruse the details of the bill, though, it’s unlikely that enough would vote in favor of it to avoid the filibuster.
And, even if the bill somehow made its way out of the Senate, it would be “dead on arrival” once it arrives in the lower chamber, as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said last week.
