Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell stated on Monday that he is ready to discuss an immigration bill that would protect young undocumented immigrants (Dreamers) from deportation only if the Democrats vote for a spending bill later today and reopen the government after three days of shutdown. The lawmaker added that if the two sides don't reach an agreement on immigration by February 9, the expiration date of the proposed stop-gap bill, he will bring an immigration bill to the floor at some point in February. "Should these issues not be resolved by the time the funding bill before us expires on Feb. 8," McConnell said, "so long as the government remains open, it would be my intention to take up legislation here in the Senate that would address DACA, border security and related issues as well as disaster relief."
The Senate is scheduled to vote at noon today (6 pm CET) on the short-term bill that would keep the government open for three more weeks, after failing to pass a similar legislation last week. However, it is still not certain that the GOP has the 60 votes needed to pass the bill, since the Democrats are still insisting that the budget legislation has to include protection for around 800,000 undocumented immigrants that were brought to the US as children.
