Lawmakers in the Senate voted overwhelmingly Monday night to move forward with a contentious immigration debate this week. Let the race to 60 votes begin.
The chamber voted 97-1 to proceed to debate on a legislative vehicle for members to work out a bill to address the future of nearly 700,000 unauthorized immigrants who were brought to the United States as children and were protected from deportation by the expiring Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Senate Republican leaders told reporters Monday night that they hope to pass a bill by the end of the week, when Congress will head home for a Presidents’ Day holiday break.
“The leader wants to wrap it up,” summarized Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Thune.
Despite the rush, the debate may take place under one of the most open processes the Senate has seen on a major piece of legislation in years. Senate leaders typically maintain a tight grip on proceedings, cutting out member involvement and limiting amendments. In fact, the government shut down for a few hours last week because GOP leaders refused to give Kentucky firebrand Rand Paul a vote on his amendment to their bipartisan budget deal.
For the DACA issue, however, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will allow various plans from different members to come to the floor for a vote. Whichever proposal can get to 60 votes first, wins.
“Everybody will have their say, and we’ll either get 60 votes for something, or we won’t,” Louisiana Republican John Kennedy said, praising McConnell’s decision to allow an open amendments process.
“If there is a bill put on the floor that will solve the problem, then I’ll be on it like wet on water,” he added.
McConnell reaffirmed his commitment to enabling a level playing field for all sides of the discussion during his floor remarks Monday afternoon. But in the same speech, he threw his support behind Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Chuck Grassley’s “Secure and Succeed Act,” based on President Donald Trump’s immigration framework, arguing it represents the “best chance” Congress has to pass DACA legislation that could earn Trump’s approval.
(This is the point where I remind you that Trump told lawmakers just one month ago that he would “sign whatever bill they send” him.)
“This legislation is a fair compromise that addresses stated priorities of all sides. It’s our best chance of producing a solution that can actually resolve these matters which requires a bill pass Senate, pass House, and earn the president’s signature. It has my support,” McConnell said.
Democrats have already shot down Trump’s plan, as it would drastically reduce the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country per year. But despite McConnell’s endorsement of the conservative immigration bill Monday afternoon, Democrats were cautiously optimistic about their chances for finding a compromise in the coming days.
“The hope is to be as collaborative as possible,” Sen. Chris Murphy told THE WEEKLY STANDARD. “The plan is to try to keep the fireworks to a minimum.
McConnell will need support from Democrats to get a bill across the finish line in the Senate, where he holds a majority of just 51 members.
A bipartisan group of about 30 senators who want to see a DACA replacement before the program expires on March 5—known for using a “talking stick” during meetings in Maine Sen. Susan Collins’s office—will release their own plan on Tuesday, Sen. Jeff Flake told reporters Monday night.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski said their plan will be a compromise that attempts to address the four priorities the White House has laid out: Funding for border security, a replacement for DACA, ending the diversity lottery, and adding limits to family migration.
Asked whether she thought it was feasible for the Senate to accomplish such a monumental task in just one week as Republican leaders expect, she said she hoped so, but added, “I don’t know.”
Even if the Senate manages to pass a bipartisan immigration bill this week, its odds in the House are in doubt. Immigration hawks say a bipartisan Senate bill has zero chance of passage in the House, and Republicans in that chamber are actively working to win enough support to pass Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte’s conservative immigration bill. A vote on that bill—unilaterally opposed by Democrats and dead on arrival in the Senate—is not expected this week.
And House Republican leaders don’t have a definitive plan for how to proceed if the Senate passes an immigration bill, a senior House GOP aide told TWS on Monday, but their course of action will depend largely on Trump’s response to the Senate’s final product.
“The only way to get out of this with a bill is to not burn bridges,” Senator Murphy calculated. “We’re used to having strategies on the floor that maximize partisan advantage. That won’t work this week.”
