(Reuters) – President Joe Biden signaled on Friday that he is hopeful a deal over the U.S.-Mexico border could be worked out next week at least in the Senate, controlled by his Democratic Party, adding that “significant policy changes” were needed.
Republicans in Congress have blocked emergency funding for Ukraine in an effort to push new security policies along the U.S.-Mexico border. They blame Biden’s policies for an influx of immigrants into the United States.
“I think next week we’re going to be able to work out something, at least in the Senate, and I’m hopeful that it’s going to be a bipartisan package,” he told an audience of mayors gathered at the White House.
“Now the question is for the speaker and House Republicans, are they ready to act as well?”
In the House, where Republicans hold a slender majority, some hardline members have threatened to try to oust Speaker Mike Johnson if he brings a border security deal to the floor as part of a package that would also include aid to Kyiv.
On Friday, Biden acknowledged that change was needed in immigration policy.
“I believe we need significant policy changes at the border, including changes in our asylum system,” he said.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Katharine Jackson; writing by Costas Pitas; Editing by Caitlin Webber)
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