Senate group to start immigration talks Thursday
by Jordain Carney - 04/27/22 8:22 PM ETA bipartisan group of senators will formally launch immigration talks on Thursday, marking the latest entry by Congress to try to capture the long-sought policy priority in recent years.
The group will include Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) as well as Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), according to Durbin. All of the senators are members of the Judiciary panel.
A bipartisan immigration deal is a heavy lift, particularly in an election year. But the talks likely represent Democrats’ best shot at passing a bill after hopes of including immigration reform in a sweeping Democratic-only tax and spending bill, known as Build Back Better, ran aground last year.
Instead of trying to craft an agreement from scratch, the group is going to use smaller, already introduced, bipartisan immigration-related bills to try to put together a package that could get the 60 votes needed to advance through the Senate.
“We’ve got a list. We’ve got a starting list. There could be some more. But it’s a starting point. I’ve talked to four or five Republican senators today. There’s a genuine interest in doing something,” Durbin said while warning against the talks becoming “top-heavy.”
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https://thehill.com/news/senate/3469623-senate-group-to-start-immigration-talks-thursday/
