This week marked further controversy regarding the Venezuela TPS bill as Senate Republicans are taking heat and being accused of blocking the legislation.
Democratic Senators Dick Durbin and Bob Menendez moved to pass the bill by unanimous consent on the Senate floor.
Republican Senator Mike Lee opposed the request.
It would have been a voice vote to bypass Senate protocol with the intention of passing legislation quickly, but it failed because one Senator opposed the move.
In response, House and Senate Democrats have slammed Senate Republicans and the Trump administration with freshman Florida Rep. Donna Shalala (D) saying that the Trump administration has done nothing but consistently let the Venezuelan people down.
Maintaining his support for providing TPS for Venezuelans, Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R) shared a video on twitter giving an update on what’s next for the legislation.
UPDATE on #VenezuelaTPS & other options for getting temporary legal status for those already in the U.S. who simply can’t return to #Venezuela due to persecution & the humanitarian crisis created by the #MaduroRegime pic.twitter.com/VxvXYlT7As
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 31, 2019
“There’s no way it was gonna pass this week,” Rubio informed, adding that he believes “the Senate bill is actually better but that said, there’s already 17 votes that are lined up this week including the budget agreement.”
Rubio added that he’s “in conversations with the White House, and I think we’ve made real progress over the last week on getting them to do something administrative.”
He concluded that “ultimately, it would be the equivalent or the same as TPS, which is a status in this country, so people don’t have to worry about being deported.”
Florida Senator Rick Scott (R) has also called on the Trump administration to act, reminding that “Maduro is killing his citizens. It’s a genocide. Every passing day, the situation on the grows worse.”
He emphasized that he is “disappointed that the Administration has so far declined to approve TPS for Venezuelans, though I do understand their concerns about approving TPS without reforming the program.”
In the video, Rubio admits that there are "a few more hurdles to climb and clear but I think, hopefully, fingers crossed, we're gonna have some good news soon from the administration on this."
