February 12, 2018 10:43am EST

What to watch during the immigration debate today

From CNN's Phil Mattingly
The Senate is set to begin immigration debate tonight. This could take multiple weeks. There's always a possibility leaders would agree to limit amendments/cut back the debate if it looks to be withering into failure, but at this point, don't be surprised if it takes awhile.

Here are two key things to watch today — and for the duration of the debate:


  • What amendments come together, and who is behind them: We saw the legislative version of the White House proposal released last night by conservative senators.
  • That can't get 60 votes. Sen. Jeff Flake is working on two amendments — one larger version of the Graham-Durbin legislation, one more scaled back that simply extends DACA protections for three years in exchange for border security/wall funding. There's a lot more percolating out there right now. Key things to look out for: who is behind them, and what policy elements are in them.
  • What order amendments are taken up: Leaders will have to agree on that, and while at the beginning stages it may not be a huge deal, at some point in the debate the order of what gets voted on and when could become extremely important.


 https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/12/polit...est/index.html