Congressional leaders left a gathering on the White Home on Wednesday signaling cautious however contemporary hope {that a} bipartisan deal could possibly be reached to fund Ukraine and overhaul insurance policies on the southern border.
Each Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Minority Chief Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., instructed reporters after the assembly {that a} deal on supplemental safety funding might come for a vote quickly.
“I am more optimistic now that we can come to an agreement on border and Ukraine in one package, along with aid to Israel, along with humanitarian aid for the Palestinians in Gaza, and along with helping Indochina,” Schumer mentioned. “I put the chances a little bit greater than half now. And that’s the first time I can say that.”
McConnell known as it a “constructive discussion” and added a deal might “be on the floor next week.”
Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer have been two of the congressional leaders assembly President Biden on the White Home on Wednesday.
“We’ve been talking about this for a very long time. It’s time to try to act,” he mentioned upon returning to the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.
The assembly was supposed to be centered on Democrats’ $110 billion supplemental help request for Ukraine, Israel and others. However Republicans have insisted on border and immigration coverage reforms for his or her help, because the border disaster turns into an increasingly bipartisan subject.
However whereas the Senate has been discussing a bipartisan path ahead on border coverage, the Home GOP majority has been steadfast in calling for nothing wanting the provisions in H.R.2, which handed the Home final 12 months and contains Trump administration-era border insurance policies like Stay in Mexico and development of a border wall.
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Democrats who management the Senate and White Home have known as the invoice a nonstarter.
A high Home Republican who emerged from the assembly, Overseas Affairs Committee Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, was cautiously inspired that President Biden was receptive to frame coverage adjustments – and recommended his convention could possibly be versatile as properly.
Johnson was joined by, from left, Home Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner, Armed Providers Committee Chair Mike Rogers, and Overseas Affairs Committee Chair Mike McCaul. (Getty Photographs)
“He said that I am ready to make significant changes to the border. He said it’s broken, he knows that, and it needs to be fixed,” McCaul mentioned of Biden.
He mentioned he and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., particularly pushed for the Stay In Mexico provision.
“I think that would be a significant policy change, that would get to the heart of the problem. That is what drives the cartels,” McCaul mentioned. “You stop that, you stop the flow and you solve the problem.”
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McCaul mentioned of the present standing of talks, “Of course, we’re making the pitch for all of H.R.2. I also live in a realistic world.”
Johnson known as the assembly “productive” upon leaving the White Home.
In a while the “Ingraham Angle,” he signaled Republicans have been nonetheless pushing for H.R.2 provisions however mentioned of Biden on the assembly, “He said we’re ready to do big things on the border.”
A Nationwide Guard soldier on the banks of the Rio Grande at Shelby Park on Jan. 12, 2024, in Eagle Go, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Photographs)
Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., the highest Democrat on the Home Intelligence Committee, instructed reporters that Johnson by no means particularly mentioned it was H.R.2 or nothing in the course of the assembly.
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He did say Johnson insisted “the most important issue for the American people is the border” and that he defended particular measures of the invoice.
The White Home mentioned of the assembly, “The President also made clear that we must act now to address the challenges at the border. He said he is encouraged by the progress being made in the bipartisan negotiations happening in the Senate. He expressed his commitment to reaching a bipartisan agreement on border policy and the need for additional resources at the border. The President called on Congress to swiftly pass his full national security supplemental.”
Fox Information’ Brianna O’Neil contributed to this report
