Sen. Chris Murphy, a key negotiator on a possible border deal, said Sunday that text of a compromise could be ready go to the Senate floor in the coming days.
“We do have a bipartisan deal. We’re finishing the text right now,” Murphy told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union,” adding that the question remains whether Republicans are going to listen to former President Donald Trump, who has tried to tank the compromise.
“We are sort of finalizing the last pieces of text right now. This bill could be ready to be on the floor of the United States Senate next week. But it won’t be if Republicans decide that they want to keep this issue unsettled for political purposes,” the Connecticut Democrat added.
Murphy said he was pleased to see President Joe Biden support the emerging deal. Biden cited the compromise at a campaign rally Saturday, saying he would shut down the US southern border if given the authority – an embrace of policies far more draconian than those he’s previously considered.
“I was glad to hear the president come out and speak forcefully in favor of this bill. I’m hopeful that we will still have enough Republicans in the Senate who want to fix the problem at the border rather than just to do Donald Trump’s bidding, but we will see over the next 24 to 48 hours whether that’s true,” Murphy said.
Components of the deal include a new authority that allows the president to shut down the border between ports of entry when unlawful crossings reach high levels, reforming the asylum system to resolve cases in a shorter timeframe, and expediting work permits.
Under the proposed deal, the Department of Homeland Security would be granted new emergency authority to shut down the border if daily average migrants crossing unlawfully reach 4,000 over a one-week span. Certain…
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