President Biden and former president Donald Trump’s dueling visits to the border Thursday come in the wake of the collapse of the most far-reaching attempt at immigration reform by Congress in over a decade. Lawmakers from both parties are deeply skeptical about reaching an accord in the foreseeable future.

On Capitol Hill, the well seems to have been poisoned after Republicans — particularly in the House — refused to support a bipartisan Senate bill once it became clear that Trump saw potential action on border security undermining what he sees as a potent campaign issue for him.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who was among the key negotiators of the failed Senate bill, said he remains willing to negotiate. But the political environment is hardly conducive to progress, Murphy said.

“This is a nightmare,” he said. “You can’t run a country with a House leadership that is this bonkers. We did what they asked. We got a bipartisan border bill. It’s ready to go. But their party rejected it completely. … It’s kind of heartbreaking what this place has come to.”

In early February, most Senate Republicans and a handful of Democrats rejected the border reform package that their leadership helped negotiate for months after Republicans in the House said they would never consider such a deal. The rejection of the package came after Trump signaled that Congress should not act on immigration ahead of the election.

William A. Galston, a fellow in the governance studies program at the Brookings Institution, said the episode shows that no substantive immigration policy is likely to pass in this Congress.

“It would be very, very difficult for anything to happen in this Congress,” Galston said. “Will any significant number of Republicans be willing to buck Donald Trump on this issue, which is his signature issue? There’s no evidence that they will.”

Since the deal fell through, Republicans have insisted that Biden has the power to bring the border under control through executive actions — despite having begrudged actions Biden has taken without congressional approval.

Democrats, meanwhile, say Republicans are the ones standing in the way of comprehensive immigration reform because it’s not convenient to them politically. Biden, Democrats and even some Republicans insist, does not have enough authority to overhaul the country’s immigration system in a comprehensive fashion.

Biden plans to travel to Brownsville, Tex., on Thursday to meet with U.S. Border Patrol agents, law enforcement personnel and local leaders. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden will talk about “the urgent need to pass the bipartisan proposal that came out of the Senate.”

“He’s going to reiterate to congressional Republicans to stop playing politics, to focus on the American people to get this done, if they are serious … about giving the U.S. Border Patrol agents what they need, if they are serious about fixing the immigration system,” Jean-Pierre said.

Biden’s trip was announced days after news outlets reported Trump will visit Eagle Pass, Tex., about 300 miles northwest of Brownsville. Trump is expected to blast the Biden’s administration’s management of the border — an issue central to his political agenda.

Speaking with reporters after a meeting with Biden this week, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) insisted that the nation’s “first priority” is border security — and that he personally told Biden that it is up to him, through executive action, to address the issue.

“I believe the president can take executive authority right now today to change that,” Johnson said. “I told him that again today in person, as I’ve said to him many times publicly and privately over the last several weeks. It’s time for action. It is a catastrophe, and it must stop.”

Last week, however, Johnson criticized Biden after news outlets reported that the White House was looking at potential executive actions that could be issued to address the border. In a statement, Johnson dismissed the White House’s efforts as “election year gimmicks.”

Trump is visiting a district held by Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), who has emerged as a voice for immigration reform in his party. Like Johnson, Gonzales blames Democrats for the “crisis” at the border, saying they “own responsibility for the failures” and argues that Biden can address these failures via executive action.

“You’re the president of the United States and you’re telling me you can’t secure your own border because you need Congress?” Gonzales said.

Sen. James Lankford (Okla.), the Republican who led Senate negotiations on the failed border deal, said he found it “fascinating” that both Biden and Trump will visit the border in the wake of the bipartisan deal’s demise.

Lankford conceded that Congress is “not able to move anything right now to actually make the difference” on immigration. Still, he said he remains hopeful that Congress will one day pass some immigration reform “because there are gaps in the law.”

Like Johnson, Lankford insisted that there are executive actions Biden can pursue to address some of the issues at the border, but he conceded that Biden’s power is limited and that he does, in fact, need congressional support to secure the border.

“The asylum process is not clearly defined, it does need additional attention and clarity,” he said. “There are additional authorities that are needed. President Trump tried to use some executive authorities that were enjoined in the court. So [Biden] needs additional law.”

Democrats are accusing Republicans of purposely blockading any legislative effort to address what most Americans see as a crisis because it benefits them politically. A Gallup poll released this week found that Americans see immigration, more than any other issue, as the most important problem facing the United States.

Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.), who has introduced several pieces of immigration legislation that would address issues like temporary work visa shortages, said that Republicans robbed Congress of an opportunity to pass the first significant piece of immigration legislation in decades.

For now, he said, the momentum for change is gone.

“I’m always hopeful and optimistic, but, if I was pragmatic based on the lay of the land in light of the intransigent position of Republicans right now, they have no interest in solving this issue,” Carbajal said. “They’ve been open and vocal about it.”

Murphy is among those who have argued that Biden simply does not have the authority, nor the funding, to manage the border through executive action.

“You cannot hire 3,000 asylum officers through executive order. You cannot stop processing asylum claims by executive action,” he said. “He needs legislation. Republicans know that. Republicans have simply made a decision that they do not want to fix the border because they think the chaos helps them politically.”

In the House, there’s a bipartisan effort afoot to try to bypass Republican leadership and bring a bill to the floor that would combine border security with foreign aid to Israel and Ukraine. That is being spearheaded by moderate Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.).

Golden noted that the border provisions in his legislation are narrower than those in the defunct Senate deal and would simply authorize a one-year reinstatement of “Remain in Mexico,” the Trump-era congressionally approved policy that requires that asylum seekers stay outside of the United States until they are issued an immigration court date.

Despite having support from five Republicans and five Democrats, the effort faces steep odds.

Liz Goodwin contributed to this report.