In an effort to highlight issues where Vice President Kamala Harris has "flip flopped" throughout the years, the GOP is seeking to force Senate Democrats to block bills on issues that are considered a political liability to the party, immigration among them.
The latest effort comes from Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who sought to block two border and immigration bills on Wednesday: one that would provide billions of dollars to build the border wall and another that would detain migrants arrested for theft.
The second bill, named the Laken Riley Act after a nursing student killed by an immigrant early this year, was cosponsored by Democrats' most vulnerable senator, Jon Tester, D-Mon. Just one Democrat can tank the bills' passage.
"Vice president Harris now says she has changed policy positions on some of our country's most pressing issues," Britt said in a statement. "Let's see if her own party believes her claims, or whether they'll defend the radical policy positions Vice President Harris has long held and the Biden-Harris Administration has imposed for these painful past few years."
The effort is part of a larger GOP plan to highlight Harris' shifting positions on certain topics. Another high-profile issue that has come into the Senate floor is fracking, one of the most prominent issues that Harris has changed her mind on.
Harris used to be an outspoken critic of fracking, particularly during her time as a presidential primary candidate in 2019. But as Vice President, she has notably changed her position on the matter, asserting time and time again that she will not ban the act if she wins the White House in November.
"I was the tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, which opened new leases for fracking," she said. "My position is that we have got to invest in diverse sources of energy so we reduce our reliance on foreign oil."
The Republican Senate strategy is also described by Axios as a way to "counter" Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's, D-NY, plan of bringing politically tough votes to Republicans.
One of them is in vitro fertilization (IVF). Just this week, Republicans have blocked for a second time this year legislation to establish a nationwide right to IVF, arguing that the vote is an election-year stunt after Democrats forced a vote on the issue.
The 51-44 vote was short of the 60 votes needed to move forward on the bill, with only two Republicans voting in favor. Democrats say Republicans who insist they support IVF are being hypocritical because they won't support legislation guaranteeing a right to it, Voice of America reports.
"They say they support IVF— here you go, vote on this," said Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, the bill's lead sponsor and a military veteran who has used fertility treatment to have her two children.
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