Democrats say they’ll stay in DC until Senate reaches Ukraine border deal as recess nears

Senate Democrats are threatening to stay in Washington, D.C., over the Christmas recess if bipartisan border talks fail to produce a deal that could pass the chamber by week’s end.

A bipartisan working group of senators has made next to no progress in weeks on a border security deal, which would be added to a defense spending bill that includes Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan assistance. Negotiators on both sides have acknowledged that the border measure is critical to pass the legislation through both chambers in a divided government.

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Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), the lead GOP negotiator, said on Monday that there was no path to reaching a deal this week. He told reporters that the clock had “run out over the weekend” to be able to finish and pass a bill before members are scheduled to leave for Christmas recess.

“It’s great the White House & Dems have been talking all weekend about border security, but Republicans need to be involved,” Lankford tweeted just prior to his comments to reporters. “We are not going to make any real progress on securing the border until everyone is at the table.”

“I’m not leaving at the end of the week if we haven’t done this,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) told reporters on Monday in response to Lankford’s comments. “It’s always darkest before the morning. There is a deal to be had here.”

“I think we ought to consider staying into next week if we can’t do it this week,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told the Washington Examiner upon hearing what Lankford said.

“Failure is not an option here, just because people have holiday plans,” he added. “There are priorities, and we should be prepared to stay. No one wants to stay, but it’s a complicated set of issues.”

Lankford and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) have been leading the negotiations, which have centered largely on changes to federal asylum policy and how the Biden administration uses the humanitarian parole authority.

Murphy told reporters on Monday that he had “productive” conversations with the White House over the weekend, though he could not say if a deal is likely in the coming days.

“We continue to talk and we continue to try to get to a result,” he said.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will return to the Capitol on Tuesday as the Senate hustles to finish and pass the bipartisan bill funding the war. In addition to shining a spotlight on the stalled negotiations, Zelensky’s visit comes during the last working week of the year for Congress.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said late Monday that he would call lawmakers back to Washington if the Senate managed to reach a border deal and pass the broader legislation.