Scoop: Senate starts "secret" talks about bipartisan border deal
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A small, bipartisan group of senators have been quietly sketching out a possible new border deal for early 2025, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Border and immigration reform is the white whale of Congress. It's also President-elect Trump's No. 1 priority.
- Top Senate Republicans plan to move quickly on a border package, using the budget reconciliation process to get it done.
- But the idea of a bipartisan border deal that could get 60 votes has popped up as GOP infighting drags on over the best path forward in Trump's first 100 days.
Zoom in: At least two Trump-state Democrats have been involved in the conversations, which Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) described as "very" serious and the details "very secret."
- "If we can do border separately — without reconciliation — then [Trump's] okay with" one reconciliation package, Mullin, who's been a key link between Trump, the Senate and the House, told Axios.
- Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) is one of those Democrats.: "If there's willingness to work in a bipartisan way to do some stuff, not only on border security, but on immigration reform, I think it would be great."
- Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who is up for reelection next cycle, told Axios of the bipartisan border talks: "We're gonna be certainly engaged in efforts to make that happen."
- "There are all kinds of conversations — and I hope to be a part of them as they continue — aiming at comprehensive immigration reform," Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said.
Between the lines: Politics have shifted on the border, with many Democrats — especially in states Trump won — moving to the right and embracing stricter enforcement measures to stem illegal border crossings and drug smuggling.
- Trump may have further made an opening by suggesting he would be willing to provide protections for DACA recipients —people who illegally entered the country as children.
- "We have to do something about the Dreamers because these are people that have been brought here at a very young age," Trump said in an interview earlier this month.
- That has long been the top immigration priority for Democrats.
Flashback: It was just last year that another bipartisan border deal was being hashed out by Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.)
- Despite serious concessions from both sides, the bill failed on the floor — in part because Trump wanted to campaign on the issue and didn't want to give Biden a win.
- Reconciliation could allow Senate Republicans to pass budget-related border measures with just 50 votes, rather than having to meet the 60-vote filibuster threshold. But there are limits on what they could do.
What to watch: There seems to be even more Democrats who would be willing to join conversations about a bipartisan border package.
- Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), who — along with Trump — won in her state this year, told us she'd "like to be part of those conversations."
- Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) said conversations about a bipartisan border deal wouldn't surprise him, saying "we've been clear as Democrats in the Senate that we're willing to work with our Republican colleagues to solve this problem."
- Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) also said he would support such a move. "I've been very clear that we need a secure border, absolutely... but also, I read that the President-elect even discussed protecting through DACA."
