WASHINGTON – A flurry of activity in the last 24 hours has injected new hope into Senate immigration negotiations, according to key lawmakers and sources with knowledge of the talks, who also cautioned that there is still no deal.
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said both the White House and Republicans have made significant movements in their positions and that the discussions have become more “productive” because “all the players are at the table actually talking about how to solve this.”
“There are some tough issues that are still on the table,” Lankford said Wednesday afternoon after giving Senate Republicans an update on the talks at a lunch meeting. “But I think we’ve got serious people on all sides … trying to figure out how to solve them.”
Lankford is working with Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., and top White House staff to try to hammer out a solution to tighten asylum laws and limit parole authorities in immigration cases. In addition, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have been involved in the talks, along with the Department of Homeland Security, sources with knowledge said.
Schumer and McConnell met privately in the majority leader’s office early Wednesday afternoon. The two discussed the funding package, Schumer’s spokesman said.
The sluggish pace of talks in recent days had caused pessimism among negotiators, who are now striking a different tone.
“My hope is that we can all agree to stay until we get this done,” Murphy told reporters. “We made progress yesterday. We’re going to continue to try to make progress today.”
Republicans claim an immigration deal is essential to securing their votes to pass aid to Ukraine and Israel, a top priority for President Joe Biden. To prove their point, Senate GOP lawmakers voted unanimously last week to filibuster the funding package, and they said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday hadn’t changed their minds.
A Democratic source familiar with the talks said progress had been made in the last 24 hours, but cautioned that there was no agreement or even a framework in principle.
With Congress due to go into recess until 2024 at the end of this week, there’s no guarantee that the two parties will get a deal through the Senate. And even if they do, it’s not clear it would pass the Republican-controlled House, where Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has insisted on a more aggressive package of immigration restrictions demanded by hardline conservatives. Lankford said he’s keeping Johnson apprised of developments, but that there’s no Senate pact for the speaker to weigh in on yet.
A senior administration official said Biden is being briefed on the negotiations on an ongoing basis and will get personally involved once there’s a clearer framework for a deal. The official acknowledged that there will be political blowback to a bipartisan compromise on certain border policy issues, but said Biden is willing to take the heat to get the deal done because the immigration system is “broken” and the issue needs to be addressed urgently.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was on Capitol Hill Wednesday night to participate in the talks, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Reaching bipartisan agreement on the finer details of a bill is seen in the Senate as crucial to the viability of any deal, given the operational complexities and political sensitivity of the policies involved. Until then, it won’t be easy for senators to announce a deal. But the challenges will only grow early next year, sandwiched between looming government funding deadlines in January and February and the political dynamics of an election year.
On Wednesday, Sinema briefed lawmakers in the House’s bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus on the status of negotiations in her private Senate retreat, according to four sources with knowledge of the meeting.
Emerging from the meeting, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., sounded upbeat that an immigration deal wasn’t far off.
“Not quite there, but they’re close,” he said, adding that Republicans in the group trust their Senate counterpart to get a deal done. “Lankford is kicking ass,” he said.
The movement toward a potential deal has raised hackles among pro-immigration progressives and members of the Hispanic Caucus, who say they fear the pact would impose harsh conditions on migrants that contradict Biden’s campaign promises. CHC members have been pressing Biden for an ’emergency’ meeting to discuss the issue, which has yet to happen. They spoke outside the Capitol on Wednesday to voice their displeasure.
“Imagine the administration trying to make a deal on voting rights or civil rights without having members of the Congressional Black Caucus at the table. That would never be tolerated. And we absolutely cannot tolerate it,” said Senator Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who is under federal indictment for allegedly accepting bribes from Egypt and conspiring to act as a foreign agent. (He has denied the charges and pleaded not guilty).
Lankford and Murphy both declined to comment on some of the provisions being negotiated, including an expansion of deportation powers and the detention of migrants in an attempt to control the border. Asked if there was a way to break the logjam on parole, Lankford would only say that it’s a delicate balance because moving the dial on one policy provision will affect others in the deal.
“Once we actually get an agreement, then we’ll say, okay, it’s all done,” Lankford said. “You’re dealing with border security and all the issues that go along with that – really, it’s all tied together. So if this doesn’t work, that means this has to go. I mean, all these pieces have to fit together.”
Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., questioned whether the Senate would have “enough time to process” a deal even if it came together soon.
“You still have to write it up, and nobody’s written anything up. These are all concepts right now,” he said. “And nobody, I don’t think, has even determined who’s got the pens and who’s in the room at the moment. The deal has not come together.”
Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, warned that it could be risky for the Senate to pass a bill and leave town “because it’s going to be a piñata out there for people to take shots at for the next couple of weeks”.
“Just a practical concern,” he said.
