Finding common ground as another funding deadline looms

0:00Congress is approaching yet another Friday funding deadline. This week's sticking point, guardrails for federal immigration agents after two deadly shootings of U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. The stakes, funding for the Department of Homeland Security. The path forward? Well, that is the multi-billion dollar question. At first, top lawmakers seemed optimistic about finding common ground, from House Speaker Mike Johnson to leading Senate Democrats like Patty Murray. I'll be doing everything I possibly can to ensure that we meet this moment. And so I think we can get to an agreement. I certainly hope that's true.

0:33But that optimism faded as we got closer to Friday's deadline. Their immediate rejection of the Democrats' common sense proposals was totally predictable. Such a short timeline would be challenging, if not impossible. That was Senate Majority Leader John Thune. He says Democrats dawdled and then produced a laundry list of non-starters, while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who we also heard from, called Republicans' offer insufficient. Former Senator Heidi Heitkamp, a North Dakota Democrat, spent hours in rooms with senators trying to resolve a standoff over the debt ceiling. And she says bipartisan negotiations have always been a high wire act, particularly amid a national crisis.

1:14You know, when the shock wears off, then all of a sudden everybody goes back to their corners. Republican Senator Katie Britt of Alabama is helping lead the current negotiations. She says she's thinking a lot about the public's trust. Anybody can identify a problem. We have to be people that are looking for solutions. I think we owe it to the people we serve to actually find that pathway forward. Britt helped strike a deal with a handful of Democrats that voted to end the last big shutdown, including Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia. Kaine says he still believes bipartisan action is possible, but that it's really hard.

1:51On health care, on immigration, the parties are in fundamentally very, very different places. Cain says he goes into negotiations like this with high hopes but low expectations. Consider this. Is common ground between parties really as narrow as it seems? After the break, we will hear from two congressmen, one Republican, one Democrat, who believe that they share more in common than what divides them, and they still believe in a path forward. From NPR, I'm Scott Detrow.

2:30It's Consider This from NPR. Top immigration officials are testifying on Capitol Hill this week ahead of Friday's deadline to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats have refused to fund DHS without changes to how federal agents conduct immigration sweeps. And Republicans are reluctant to approve significant reforms to an immigration enforcement operation that they broadly support. So how can the parties find any common ground before DHS runs out of money on Friday? We've invited two lawmakers, one from each party, to talk about all of this. Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Democratic Congressman Tom Suozzi of New York.

3:07Together, they co-chair the Problem Solvers Caucus. They both penned a letter to the White House urging President Trump to take this moment to consider a broader bipartisan fixed immigration and enforcement. Thanks so much to both of you. Thanks for having us. Yeah, thanks, Scott. Let me start with this. I'll start with Congressman Fitzpatrick, then turn to Congressman Swazi. You both work together a lot. You talk about finding common ground, getting solutions. So I actually would love to start with what the biggest area you disagree on when it comes to immigration, when it comes to immigration enforcement.

3:39Because, I mean, that tells us a lot about the possibility of a deal. Congressman Fitzpatrick, let me start with you. In terms of policy, both of us agree that the border needs to be secure. Both of us agree that we need to be humane and show compassion when it comes to enforcement in the interior. Both of us agree that you have to separate out the dangerous, violent offenders who pose a public safety threat from the people that are here in this country undocumented who have committed no other crime other than crossing the border. You know, Tom may disagree, but, you know, in my communications with him, there's been no distance whatsoever.

4:19Yeah, we don't disagree between the two of us, and I think there are a lot of Democrats and a lot of Republicans could easily come to a way forward to, as Brian said, to secure the border, to fix the broken asylum system, to legalize a bunch of people that have been here for more than nine years since President Trump first came into office. The problem is, is that the people that are most involved in politics these days, most passionate in politics are often off at the extreme edges. So we have to do the hard work of functioning in what is a toxic environment to say, listen, we share more in common than what divides us.

4:56Let's try and push that through. I want to start with the current issue before Congress with the current funding bill that seems to expire on Friday. So the two of you seem to be mostly on the same page and saying there is a path forward here. I think it's clear to everybody that Congress as a whole is not necessarily on that page. And I'm wondering what you think the biggest challenge is, whether it's a short-term deal, whether it's a longer-term deal, what is the biggest sticking point? Is it the idea of any sort of restrictions on ICE and Border Patrol operating within the U.S.? Do you think it's something else?

5:28Well, we certainly need to have restrictions on the way that ICE is operating now. I think that we've really just hit a tipping point after Alex Petty was killed. And, you know, I've long said that, you know, the president's right. We have to secure the border. The president's right. We have to deport violent criminals. The president's right. We have to go after violent cartels. But he is squandering any success he's had in that respect on these raids that are taking place that are really, have been, I believe, illegal and immoral in many ways. And, you know, they're economically unwise, they're socially destructive, and they're morally wrong.

6:03And I think most Americans are leaning in the position, you know, we want to go after the gangs. We don't want to go after the gardeners. So Representative Fitzpatrick, everything that Representative Swazi just said, how many Republicans in the House do you think would by and large agree with what he said? Believe it or not, the majority. You know, the challenge, unfortunately is politics gets in the way for a lot of these people um we're not going to get to an agreement on all the things that need to be fixed with ice um in a week it's not going to happen in a week it's going to take time it's going to take a lot of conversations just like we had post george floyd but in terms of ice we should all agree that the mass should come off we should all agree on the need for body cameras 20 you know 24 7 well i don't think the white house agrees on the mass question though and that that feels like a pretty listen i'm speaking on my i'm speaking on my own behalf.

6:50And I'm also telling you the conversations that I have with many, many of my colleagues on the floor, they agree with that. You are both saying things that I think if you've polled, the majority of Americans would agree with, right? But we are living in a world where you know that the district, if anything, congressional districts are going the opposite direction as both sides get more and more redistricting. One of the biggest problems we have. Sure. We've got to fix that. Sure. And you have seen immigration and ICE and Border Patrol enforcement become something that has terrified a lot of Americans.

7:19It's become some of the biggest political crises we've seen in a long time. So I guess my question is, given the reality of the world we are facing right now, what do you both think the path forward is in this Congress for this issue that you both clearly care about? I will answer that question. I think that for the immigration issue with DHS funding, which is the issue right before us right now, we do very, very short-term CR extensions that are always coupled with one reform, right? So what's the easiest reform that we can all agree on? Let's say body camps, right? So how about we do a two-week extension of DHS funding and we add that one reform?

7:58And then if we want another two-week or another month extension, we add another reform that we all agree to. That way, at least incrementally, we make that progress and we get to where we need to be. That is Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Democratic Congressman Tom Swasey of New York. They are co-chairs of the Problem Solvers Caucus. Thanks for talking to us. Yeah, thank you. Thanks.

8:21This episode was produced by Jason Fuller and Elena Burnett and edited by Christopher Intagliata, Sammy Yenigan, Kelsey Snell, and Nadia Blancy. It featured additional reporting by Sam Gringless. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigan.

8:37It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Scott Detrow.

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