- Despite divisions, Biden and Republicans agree to more Covid relief talks
- How red states might block Biden’s roadmap to Covid recovery
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she is a sexual assault survivor
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Here’s what we can expect from president Joe Biden today on immigration. He will order a major review of asylum processing at the US-Mexico border and the legal immigration system as he seeks to undo Donald Trump’s hard-line policies.
Biden will also create a task force to reunite migrant families who were separated at the southern US border by Trump’s 2018 “zero tolerance” border strategy, officials said.
Related: US to resume deporting asylum seekers after judge rejects Biden order
“It was a very good exchange of views. I wouldn’t say we came together on a package tonight. No one expected that in a two-hour meeting. But what we did agree to do is follow up and talk further.”
Those were the words overnight of Maine’s Republican Senator Susan Collins who lead a group of 10 Republican lawmakers to meet president Joe Biden. They were presenting their ideas for a stripped-down Covid support package that might command bipartisan support. The Washington Post reports:
The path ahead is uncertain, given that Democratic leaders in Congress started the process Monday of advancing a budget bill that can unlock special Senate rules allowing Biden’s package to pass with a simple majority vote in the Senate, instead of the 60 votes usually needed — meaning no Republican votes would be necessary.
But for Biden, the meeting with the GOP senators posed a test for a new president who campaigned on his ability to make bipartisan deals — but also faces strong pressure from the left to deliver a big new relief package now that Democrats control both chambers of Congress and the White House.
