Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., on Wednesday led three of her Republican colleagues in attempting to expedite border and fracking bills — issues that Vice President Kamala Harris has changed her views on since launching her presidential campaign — that ultimately were blocked by Democrats.
“When we look at how Vice President Harris is running, it’s obviously very different than the way she served,” Britt said on the Senate floor as she led an effort to get a series of bills passed through unanimous consent.
Britt pointed out that Harris, as a senator in 2020, called then-President Trump’s proposal to build a wall on the southern border “a complete waste of taxpayer money” that “won’t make us any safer” while Harris called on her Democratic Senate colleagues to reject the plan.
Alabama’s junior senator noted that Democrats who blocked border wall funding on Wednesday signaled that they are not aligned with Harris’ presidential campaign positions.
Britt claimed Harris’ current positions are disingenuous.
“Here’s the deal: you can’t have it both ways. Kamala Harris either wants to secure our border, which she’s had ample time to do … or she doesn’t, which is what we’ve seen throughout her tenure both in the Senate and as vice president,” she said.
‘But yet now she’s campaigning as something totally different … what we saw here today that her newfound support of the border wall is not supported by her Democratic colleagues here in the Senate,” Britt said, “and I look forward to hearing more about what we’ve seen on the campaign trail versus in actuality where she stands.”
Britt hinted that she and her Republican colleagues would continue to point a spotlight on Harris’ changing positions.
“It’s clear that her flip-flops aren’t real, and there’s much more to dig into and discuss as this campaign moves forward,” the senator said.
The tactics used by Britt and Sens. Markwayne Mullin and James Lankford of Oklahoma and Mike Lee of Utah have also been deployed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who put up a bill on Tuesday that would have protected in vitro fertilization procedures legal nationwide.
Democrats blocked the legislation and then attempted to advance their Right to IVF Act, but that, too, failed to move forward.
In arguing for her legislation, Britt said it safeguards “religious liberty” because it does not compel facilities to offer IVF while offering “nationwide certainty and peace of mind” that IVF will remain legal. It also would bar states from receiving federal Medicaid dollars if they ban the procedure.
Both parties’ bills were inspired by the Alabama Supreme Court decision finding that frozen embryos have the same rights as children. The ruling led several IVF providers in Alabama to cut services amid fear of lawsuits before the state Legislature shielded the clinics from legal liability.
The political back-and-forth comes as reproductive rights, the border and energy policiesare key issues in the 2024 election as both sides make their cases to voters.
