“To get it to the floor, you have to have some bipartisan buy-in,” said Senate Majority Whip John Thune (S.D.), the chamber’s second-ranking Republican. “There would have to be a lot of work that would get done, and I don’t sense that they’re anywhere close to having done that work with Republicans, let alone with Democrats.”
In private, senior Republicans were more skeptical of the plan’s fate. One GOP senator said, “I don’t think there’s any chance that we have any bandwidth to do that,” while a senior Republican aide said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) does not intend to “waste time” on legislation that has little chance of garnering the necessary 60 votes to advance in the Senate…
The White House privately acknowledges the immigration plan probably will not advance in its current form, and Republican officials on Capitol Hill view it primarily as a messaging document that gives the GOP an immigration platform to rally around.
“I think a merit-based approach makes sense, and most of our members agree with that,” Thune said. “But, again, to get an immigration bill, to get 60 [votes] in the Senate and the Democrat House to vote for it, it’s gonna be a very heavy lift.”
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