Jan 10 2019

A group of Senate Republicans camped out in Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office Thursday morning seeking to come up with a solution to the ongoing partial government shutdown that threatens paychecks for 800,000 federal workers starting Friday.


The group includes senators who have sought to broker an immigration compromise that would provide additional funds for border barriers that President Donald Trump wants, while allowing certain categories of undocumented immigrants to remain in the U.S. That includes some 700,000 “Dreamers” brought here illegally as children, and possibly a broader discussion about overhauling the nation’s immigration laws.


“People are talking. We’ll see what happens,” said Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who has a good relationship with Trump and has personally pressed the president to make concessions on immigration policy to the Democrats.


“We’ve got a skeleton we’re trying to flesh out,” said Thom Tillis, R-N.C. “We’re going to try to do our best to show some leadership and get Democrats to the table.”


Tillis said various ideas the Senate took up last February, but couldn’t muster the 60 votes necessary to advance, were back on the table for discussion. One of those proposals, which received 54 votes, would have established legal status for 1.8 million young immigrants and appropriated $25 billion for a border wall over 10 years, among other changes.


“I think the way out has been apparent for several weeks. It requires an agreement between the Democratic House, the Democrats in the Senate and the president,” McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters before the meeting.


Tillis said discussions involve “funding the government, it involves addressing the president’s legitimate concerns about border security, it involves probably addressing some of the concerns that I have shared with my Democratic colleagues on immigration issues. Any number of things could be on the table.”

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