Senator Chris Murphy, a key negotiator on a possible border agreement, said Sunday that the text of a border compromise could be ready to go to the Senate floor next week, saying negotiators are finalizing the text.
“We have a bipartisan agreement. We're finishing the text now,” Murphy told CNN's Dana Bash on “State of the Union,” adding that the question remains whether Republicans will listen to former President Donald Trump, who tried to undermine the commitment .
“We are finishing the last parts of the text now. This bill could be ready to be introduced in the United States Senate next week. But it won't be if Republicans decide they want to keep this issue unresolved for political purposes,” the Connecticut Democrat added.
Murphy said he was pleased to see President Joe Biden support the emerging agreement . Biden cited the commitment at a campaign rally Saturday, saying he would close the U.S. southern border if he had the authority.
“I was happy to hear the president speak out and speak vigorously in favor of this bill. I'm hopeful that we'll still have enough Republicans in the Senate who want to solve the problem at the border rather than just do Donald Trump's bidding, but we'll see in the next 24 to 48 hours whether that's true,” Murphy said.
The components of the agreement include new authority that allows the president to close the border between ports of entry when illegal crossings reach high levels, reform the asylum system to resolve cases in a shorter time frame and speed up work permits.
Murphy stressed that the risks of this deal – which is linked to financing Ukraine – are high.
“The consequence of failure here is not just that we keep immigration as an open issue, available for Donald Trump to exploit in the next election. It could also happen that Ukraine loses this war and that Russia marches with its army to the limits of Europe – that would be catastrophic for the United States and the world,” he said.
Still, Murphy maintained that he is confident that Republicans would support a deal, despite continued internal GOP divisions and Trump's efforts to block it.
Murphy also rejected Republicans who argue that Biden already has the tools needed to manage the U.S. southern border.
“Republicans have said openly that they want to pass border and immigration reform,” he said.
“Suddenly they are against border and immigration reform because they are afraid it will actually pass and many Republicans in the House and some in the Senate have no plans to help the president control the border because they want to keep it in a chaotic situation for political purposes,” Murphy added.
Source: CNN Brasil
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