Chris Murphy dismisses Scott's border claims: 'Bulls‑‑‑'

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) shot back at attacks on border policy and legislation from Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) on Tuesday, calling “bullshit” on his claims that Democrats don’t want to pursue border security measures.

Scott said in a Fox News interview Monday that “the left wants an open, insecure border. The conservatives and common sense independents, we want to secure America.”

Murphy instead laid blame for the failure of the bipartisan Senate border security bill, which he helped negotiate, squarely at the feet of Republicans, led in opposition by former President Trump.

“We reached a bipartisan compromise to give the President enormous new powers to control the border,” Murphy wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Almost every single Republican - including Sen. Scott - voted against it because Trump told them to keep the border a mess because it might help him politically.”

The bipartisan border security deal initially had significant support in the Senate, including from Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), but was later killed by the GOP after opposition from Trump and House Republicans. 

Trump warned that passing the border security bill could hand President Biden a political victory on the immigration issue, which is set to be one of the most important of the November election.

The Biden administration is reportedly considering executive action to bypass the roadblocks in Congress.