Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) are urging their colleagues to get on board with their legislation allowing Border Patrol agents to turn away migrants who cross into the United States without a hearing, as Title 42, the pandemic-era expulsion policy, is set to expire at midnight on Friday.

Sinema and Tillis sat down with reporters for a rare “pen and pad” session and slammed the Biden administration for what they are calling an insufficient response to the end of the policy.

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“Their willful failure to prepare for the end of Title 42 means that my state bears the brunt of the crisis that is coming,” Sinema said to reporters on Thursday afternoon. “That is fundamentally unfair and I don’t believe that is an appropriate way to seek to spur action on the part of Congress, because it’s my state, the border communities in my state, and the migrants themselves who are facing this humanitarian crisis.

“We have communicated with the White House over and over and over again about these concerns. And we have a difference of opinion on what this crisis looks like on the ground,” Sinema added.

The two senators introduced legislation last week that would extend Title 42 for another two years, buying Congress time to negotiate a larger immigration reform bill. Their joint proposal would give Border Patrol agents the same expulsion authority as Title 42, but it would not be connected to the COVID-19 public health emergency.

The bill also has the support of red-state Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Jon Tester (D-MT), all of whom are up for reelection in 2024.

“We are one day from the end of Title 42 and still the Biden administration has no viable solution to prevent an unmanageable surge of migrants at our southern border,” Manchin said in a statement on Thursday. “While I do not support every provision, Republicans in the House of Representatives are at least working on a border bill to fill the leadership vacuum created by this administration.”

Manchin was referencing a sweeping border enforcement bill that the House is expected to vote on this afternoon. The legislation would restart the construction of a border wall, place new restrictions on those seeking asylum, enhance requirements for a database employers use to verify immigration status, reinstate the “remain in Mexico” policy, increase funding for the Border Patrol, and upgrade technology along the border. While the Republican border bill is dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate, both Sinema and Tillis said it’s a good start.

“I think it’s a good foundation and it would be absolutely a central part of the border security strategy that would be in a bill that we’d be able to get 60 votes for,” Tillis said Thursday.

Sinema said she believes there’s a renewed sense of urgency on Capitol Hill to get things done regarding the border crisis.

“I think the important thing here is to notice that for the first time in well over a decade and a half, you have House and Senate members actually speaking with one another,” Sinema said.

“In the ‘06, ‘07, and again in ‘13, as we all recall, the Senate moved legislation on its own without working together with the House. The strategy we’re using this time is different. We understand that there are two chambers that must work together to get a bill to the President’s desk.”

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is working with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on a separate proposal to address the expiration of Title 42. Both Sinema and Tillis said the Illinois Senator had not discussed his proposal with them.

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“I was glad to hear that he’s talking about it, and if it has the effect of the law of Title 42 to be in place, maybe he’s come up with a better idea that could have bipartisan support. We will just have to wait and see,” Tillis said.

The number of immigrants crossing the border is expected to grow once the pandemic emergency expires. Agents have been stopping 10,000 each day this week, including Wednesday, for a third consecutive day.