issue of prioritization away, you re looking at a pretty narrow, as it relates to the scope of immigration, you re looking at something pretty narrow. i know five years ago, eyou wer able to see this revolt on the right that kept comprehensive immigration reform from coming to a vote in the house. i m not sure in an election year where control of the house is at stake and republicans know it, i m not sure that can hold again this time. isn t it also true, steve, that it looks like mcconnell knowing mcconnell, and he s a republican down to his core, he s going to have to put something into that bill besides just the dreamers act. i think he ll have to put something on border protection just to give cover. in fact, balance to the bill. you think he ll get a clean bill? i suspect that s right because again, you heard chuck schumer there talking about the 60 votes, the idea of hey, this is probably whatever we come up with is going to need 60 votes. that means you can t just do it wi
be joining you in celebrating the passage with you and your families and communities of a measure which will strengthen america and give you an opportunity to be part of our future. mr. president, i yield. well, that is a dramatic statement as well by dick durbin of illinois. it seemed to be a great partnership over this weekend between the two of those leaders. the big question right now, the country has to see there s something missing in this commitment from mcconnell, something in the commitment that chuck schumer got from him and dick durbin got from mcconnell. nothing is promised from the president. the president is not playing the role in this making of this bill for the dreamers. if the senate passes today action to say there will be a commitment to a vote sometime around february 9th and there will be a level playing field,
and it will. thank you and i yield the floor. well, that was senate democratic leader schumer of new york. what a dramatic moment for him to say there will be a deal. he will deliver 60 senators to end the closing of government, bring government back to life this afternoon. let s go to mcconnell to hear the response from the republicans. i think if we ve learned anything during this process, it s that a strategy to shut down the government over the issue of illegal immigration is something american people didn t understand and would not have understood in the future. so i m glad we ve gotten past that and we have a chance to get back to work and therefore, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory de r
sides. the democrats are going to stick to this fight. they re going to try to get a commitment from mcconnell, the republican leader. they give them a vote in the next couple weeks on daca. they want to get a commitment from him. can they trust him? can chuck schumer trust him? can enough democrats trust him that there will be a vote that they can move on with the government. i think that s the key question tonight. steve, will they get a commitment from mcconnell that s enough for them to stop the fight. yeah, and chris, obviously please stay with us throughout the vote, throughout the hour. let me set up for folks at home exactly what s about to play out on the senate floor and what we re looking for. on friday night, the vote to keep the government open that failed, that caused this shutdown, the number there was 51. there were 51 votes to open the government on friday night. they need 60. so they were nine short for passage on friday night. what we are going to be looking for in
at the same time, the war has not ended. the political war between republicans and democrats is expected to continue. democrats see an opening here to really press leader mcconnell to bring up an immigration vote. if he does not, they ll say you pledged that you would move in some way and maybe we could have another shutdown impasse in february. but robert, quickly, is the pledge here, as you understand is from mcconnell, to do the vote before february 8th, or is it just to do the vote at some point that could be after february 8th? there s an understanding that maybe the vote could move sometime before february 8th, but mcconnell continues to insist that the government must remain open if that kind of process is going to begin. so it s really a question of nuance here, but democrats feel a lot of pressure. that s why you see movement today. chris, you set this up at the top. the question for democrats is on this issue of daca, the big sticking point here, are they getting what t