Bipartisan negotiators pressed forward today in the Capitol, seeking to find a deal between both parties to reopen the Department of Homeland Security.
Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., met with Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., Don Davis, D-N.C., and Adam Gray, D-Calif., this morning about finding a path to end the shutdown.
“I think we’re all committed to opening the department, so I think we need to do whatever it takes to get there,” she said, adding, “There’s deals on the table, so we look forward to hopefully finding a way to move forward.”
Rep. Gottheimer added, “we’ve got to work 24/7 in both sides, working together from the House and the Senate to get this across the finish line” and “we shouldn’t stop until we get there.”
Some lawmakers also panned GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham’s proposal to pursue a reconciliation bill — which would only require a simple majority to pass, rather than 60 votes — for DHS, military funding, and measures to “improve voter integrity,”
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said that passing a package with so many different elements would be “very, very difficult” and instead advocated for a “very narrow” reconciliation bill that just provides a budget for DHS and “gets TSA paid.”
With the Senate currently expected to leave for recess at the end of the week, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said “I can’t imagine that we would leave without getting TSA reopened and some of these other agencies.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., agreed, saying that senators should, “stay in town to make sure the Republicans agree to pay TSA. It’s a really simple solution.”
