Graham: Meeting with Trump ‘most fascinating’ in 20 years of politics

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that a Tuesday meeting with President Trump and Republican and Democratic lawmakers was the “most fascinating” gathering he had attended in his more-than-20-year political career.

In a series of tweets posted after the meeting on government funding and immigration policy concluded, Graham said that the president has the “right attitude” and expressed optimism that lawmakers could reach a deal for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. 

Most fascinating meeting I’ve been involved with in twenty plus years in politics.

I very much appreciate @POTUS @realDonaldTrump attitude, demeanor, and desire to get something done that will make our nation more secure – while being fair to the #Dreamers.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) January 9, 2018

President @realDonaldTrump has the right attitude.

Now it is up to all of us in Congress to come up with a proposal that gets the job done.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) January 9, 2018

The American people overwhelmingly want better border security, a more modern immigration system, and to allow the #Dreamers a new and better life. All we have to do is listen to the American people and enact their wishes.

I hope and pray we can get that done.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) January 9, 2018

{mosads}

The meeting came as lawmakers and the White House face mounting pressure to strike a deal on DACA, which offered young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children a temporary reprieve from deportation. 

The Trump administration announced in September that it would end the program, with the president urging Congress to find a legislative solution for DACA’s hundreds of thousands of recipients, often called “Dreamers.”

Democrats have called for a DACA fix to be included in a government-funding bill, with current funding set to run out next week. Republicans, on the other hand, have dismissed the idea of tying the matter to the spending measure and have accused Democrats have holding funding hostage over immigration.

Trump has also said that any deal on DACA must include funding for his long-promised border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, and should seek to end so-called chain migration and the visa lottery program.

Asked on Tuesday if he would accept a DACA deal without funding for the wall, Trump said that he would “love not to build the wall, but you need the wall.”

On Monday evening, appropriators estimated that another short-term government funding bill would be necessary to avoid a shutdown on Jan. 19 as negotiations continue on larger spending legislation.