Senate Democrats are challenging their Republican colleagues to vote for a border security bill Thursday that they already once rejected.

Meanwhile, GOP lawmakers are accusing Democrats of feigning interest on the issue to score political points in an election year.

The legislation would create funding to hire thousands of new border patrol agents, buy the latest in detection equipment, overhaul asylum laws and give the president new authorities to close the border.

The agreement reached in February was negotiated for months by Biden administration officials along with Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla.; Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.; and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz. Despite Lankford’s role in the talks, Republicans in both the Senate and House overwhelmingly voiced opposition to the deal once it was announced.

Former President Donald Trump had urged GOP lawmakers to reject the agreement, reportedly because he wanted to campaign on unsolved border issues. Republicans in Congress, however, insisted it made too many concessions to Democrats. Some Republicans justified their position by citing a misleading claim that the package would have loosened standards by allowing 5,000 additional migrants to cross the board each day.

The package was originally set to be included in a $95 billion foreign aid bill that also had money for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The border piece of it, however, was stripped out of the bill after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declared it did not have enough GOP support.

There’s been no indication Republicans have changed their tune, but that isn’t stopping Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., from bringing a standalone border bill to the floor Thursday.

“Tomorrow senators will face an important decision: Will both sides come together to advance a bipartisan border security bill or will partisanship get in the way once again?” Schumer said in a news conference Wednesday. 

Democrats say the legislation is the toughest on border security in decades. They focused much of their argument Wednesday not on migrants, but on the flow of deadly fentanyl into the country.

“We can't allow this poison to be brought into our country by transnational criminal organizations,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. “As elected members of Congress, it is our duty to take action to keep these drugs off of our streets and to keep families safe.”

Senate Democrats accused Republicans of not being serious when they talk about fixing the border.

“They don't get to promise that they're going to crack down on fentanyl and then turn around and vote against billions of new dollars for law enforcement to do just that,” said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii. “So spare us the crocodile tears. Vote for the thing that you say you are for.”

GOP lawmakers said Wednesday the vote is a political stunt, one that will likely put Republicans on the record voting against border security.

“Folks, it’s six months out now from an election and Democrats are in crisis mode,” said Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan. “They've seen the polling.

“This is a crisis that the Democrats have spent three years making,” Marshall added.

Senate Republicans blame Biden’s policies for leading to more than 8 million law-enforcement encounters at the southwest border during his presidency. They say Biden is responsible for the fentanyl and potentially terrorists entering the country and believe his administration grants asylum to too many migrants.

“There is a distinct difference between Republicans and Democrats when we're talking about border security,” said Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. “The left means release and resettle. When Republicans talk about border security, we mean deny, and deport.”

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said the bill does not secure the border, but rather “codifies what Biden has done.”

“We're not going to do it,” he said. “We're all fed up with what they've done. They've made this country less safe.”

Senate Republicans called on Biden to take executive action on border security and Democrats to vote for a bill passed by the House last year that that would revive a number of Trump-era policies, including the “Remain in Mexico” program, border-wall construction and asylum restrictions. 

“There is a solution to this catastrophe, one that takes border security seriously — the Secure the Border Act … H.R. 2,” Blackburn said.

But Schumer argued that H.R. 2 is “the truly political bill” because it was written with no Democratic input, while the legislation being voted on Thursday was designed to get 60 votes. 

The Biden administration threatened to veto H.R. 2 last year, saying it did not address the root causes of migrants, reduced humanitarian protection and restricted legal pathways to enter the country.

Even if the bill manages to pass the Senate, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said earlier this week it “would be dead on arrival” in his chamber.