While the House has gone into recess until the week of January 8th, the Senate remains in session working on the significant issues that remain in negotiations on US-Mexico border restrictions demanded by Republicans in exchange for clearing assistance to Ukraine and other US allies. Although Senate negotiators worked through the weekend, the Senate looks unlikely to advance new border security restrictions alongside billions more for Ukraine aid this month, as negotiators work through complex border law in difficult closed-door discussions with the Biden administration and top Senate aides. Negotiating Senators James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona) and Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) met for three hours on Sunday and continued to cite forward progress afterward, with reports saying some portions of the challenging border language had been finalized. But the full deal is not complete enough for even a cursory framework or summary to be released yet, and senators on the Republican side suggested the bill shouldn’t be taken up until January when the House is back in session. The senators will continue discussions today, when the Senate comes back into session. Even with final legislative text, approving a bill on the Senate floor could take a week or more. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) can quickly force another vote to advance President Joe Biden’s foreign aid request this week, but no firm decision has been made on having that vote and in the meantime the Senate will take up votes on nominations and work on extending an expiring FAA bill and top-level military nominations.
For today, the Senate will reconvene at 3:00 P.M. and is expected to vote on confirmation of the nomination of Martin O’Malley to be Commissioner of Social Security.
