Lamar Alexander: Trump and Pelosi should "withdraw" from border security talks



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Sen. Lamar Alexander, a close aide to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, told CNN that the involvement of Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would complicate efforts to reach a conclusion. an agreement on border security before mid-February to avoid a new government closure. And he called for any agreement between the House and the Senate on border security to include legislation to prevent closures in the future – an idea that is growing bipartisan.

"We know the positions of the President, we also know the positions of President Pelosi, let them now withdraw and let the conference committee do what it usually does," said Alexander, emphasizing past efforts to fund physical barriers.

McConnell told CNN on Monday that a stop was a "bad idea" when we asked him if he could exclude him in the next round of negotiations.

"I think a stop is a bad idea but still a good idea and I am confident we will no longer be in that position," McConnell said.

Last Thursday, the Senate Majority Leader privately told Trump that GOP Senators were anxious about the closure, a source told CNN, and a number of Republicans openly expressed their frustration with the government. 35-day closure and lack of strategy to end the situation at the White House. .
After Trump agrees Friday to reopen the government for three weeks, a 17-member committee of the Senate House of Representatives will meet Wednesday to begin discussions on a bill on domestic security spending that would serve as a vehicle for action. immigration and border security. Trump demanded $ 5.7 billion to fulfill his campaign promise for a wall on the southern border, which Pelosi flatly rejected.

But Pelosi, Friday, did not know if she would exclude funding from the wall in the next round of negotiations. And some Democrats have expressed an openness to compromise in exchange for changes in immigration policy, such as the legal status of undocumented immigrants brought to the United States at a young age, recipients of the Deferred Action Plan for the arrival of immigrants. # 39; children. Trump told the Journal that he was not inclined to support such an agreement that would pave the way for a path to citizenship for DACA recipients, also known as Dreamers.

While Trump claimed that another stop is an "option," Alexander called for legislation to prevent this from happening again.

Two separate measures, proposed by Senators Rob Portman of Ohio and Mark Warner of Virginia, would indicate different ways to end threats of closure if Congress and the White House fail to reach an agreement to fund the government .

Alexander said that a final agreement between the House and Senate to fund the Department of Homeland Security should also incorporate the provisions of these bills.

"The laws designed to make closures a relic of the past, which are their place, they belong to the trash of history – not our future," Alexander said. "And there is broad support for that from both sides of the aisle, and I hope that the agreement we will reach in the next three weeks would include a version of Sen Warner's bill. or Senator Portman. "

This story has been updated with additional developments on Monday.

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