Sen. Dick Durbin says Democrats want bipartisan deal to reopen government
Democratic Whip Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois says that Democrats are working on a potential deal to fund the federal government to end the current shutdown on what he calls a "bipartisan basis."
Durbin would not confirm discussions of a deal to fund the government through Feb. 8 in exchange for a commitment on a vote on DACA, the program protecting immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. He instead placed blame on the Republican-controlled Congress for failing to bring any hearings or bill to the Senate on DACA legislation.
"There's been a consistent failure by the Republican leadership in Congress to deal with these critical issues. We don't want to see this situation as it currently exists, but we want to see a solution that has meaning and one that will serve this nation. We're lurching from one continuing resolution to the next," said Durbin on CBS News' "Face the Nation" on Sunday.
While Democrats use the shutdown as leverage for immigration reform, Durbin said a shutdown was "not a good thing to do at any point."
"We have reached a desperate situation. This was the fourth continuing resolution. The Republican-controlled Congress has refused to fund the government, been unable to fund the government. They can't resolve the issues within their own ranks," he said. "And so they give us one continuing resolution after the next. And now we are piling up all the things that need to be done."
Durbin said that the Congress now faces a lengthy list of must-pass legislation, creating an "urgency for us to come together and do it quickly."
"I hope it's just a matter of hours or days. But we need to have a substantive answer. And the only person who can lead us to that is President Trump. This is his shutdown," he added.