Senate Republicans are working on several options to try and pass legislation through both chambers to keep the government open.
A group of GOP leaders and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) have been working on a border security amendment to the continuing resolution that the Senate voted 76 to 22 to proceed with consideration of on Thursday evening to keep the government open an additional 45 days. The legislation includes $6 billion for Ukraine and $6 billion in disaster aid, making it unlikely to survive in the House of Representatives as written.
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The group of lawmakers involved in crafting the provision have been meeting repeatedly in recent days, though nothing has come to fruition. GOP lawmakers discussed the potential for a border security amendment at a Friday conference luncheon, though several members said while leaving the meeting that the amendment was far from ready.
Republicans have until 11 a.m. local time on Saturday, when the Senate will vote to invoke cloture on the CR, to whip enough GOP votes for the measure. Democrats currently control the Senate 50-49, meaning Republicans need to deliver 11 votes for the CR to pass, something that would prove easier if the bill had a border security provision.
Democrats have stayed out of negotiations on the amendment up to now, making matters more complicated. Should the provision have no support from the party, the vote to add the amendment to the bill will fail.
“When you’re dealing with an emergency, and you need to get something done in the next couple of days, this just feels like too big a lift,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), who has privately been involved in discussions about immigration with Republicans, said Friday of why Democrats have not gotten behind an amendment yet. “There’s a chance that we do something big potentially on policy and money in the next two months. It’s just that we can’t figure out a way to land that right now.”
As a result, several Republicans spent the afternoon discussing a short-term CR without Ukraine or disaster funding. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) unsuccessfully attempted to pass his version of a two-week clean CR on Friday evening by unanimous consent, though Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) objected, thus blocking the effort.
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Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) told reporters beforehand that Johnson was going to bring the bill “to the floor shortly to see how it flies.”
In defending her decision to block his UC request, Murray said from the Senate floor, “We can’t be back here in this same situation in two weeks.”
