« We’ve not had a pause on this at all, » Senator James Lankford said amid rumors that Leader Mitch McConnell may hedge his support.
The lead Republican negotiator on a bipartisan deal to secure the border told reporters Thursday that negotiations are still on despite reported concerns from Senate GOP leadership that moving forward on an agreement could undermine former President Donald Trump.
Trump has made border security a top issue of his campaign and called on Republicans to reject a deal « unless we get EVERYTHING, » leading some of his supporters in Congress to come out against a potential bipartisan deal.
On Wednesday, Punchbowl News reported that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told conference members in a closed-door meeting that « politics on this have changed » and « we don’t want to do anything to undermine [Trump]. »
Speculation ensued that a deal may fail, but lead GOP negotiator Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma shot down that notion.
« It’s not stopped, » Lankford of Oklahoma said. « We’re still going forward.
