Senators are growing increasingly pessimistic that they will strike a year-end deal on immigration in order to greenlight aid to Ukraine — with Republicans saying that a high-profile Tuesday visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will do nothing to change their demands that US border policy be dealt with first.
“Again, we have a responsibility to the United States of America,” said Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, the lead GOP negotiator on immigration policy. “That would mean me going back to my state and saying I care about people in other countries, but I don’t care about what’s happening in my own country. It’s important that we actually do two things at once here. And we’re the United States of America, it’s not that we look at other nations and ‘Oh gosh, they’re really in trouble, but we’re gonna ignore our own needs as well.’ We’ve gotta actually pay attention to our own needs while we’re also dealing with the needs around the world as well.”
Zelensky is slated to meet with senators on Tuesday, as well as hold a one-on-one meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson, before meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House.
Lankford added that there’s “no way to get (a deal) done this week,” but said that the “big question” is if the Senate sticks around next week to continue negotiations – or goes home for Christmas. Both chambers of Congress are currently slated to leave town at the end of this week and not return until January.
Democrats and Republicans remain far apart in their closed-door talks.
“No, no,” Lankford said when asked if he’d be willing to punt on immigration until next year in the face of Zelenksy urging Congress to approve Ukraine aid immediately.
Asked if he expected the talks to go into 2024, Lankford said: “I’d love to be able to see it resolved sooner than that,…
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