House conservatives have invited several Republican senators to a closed-door policy meeting next week that will feature representatives from both sides of the immigration debate, National Journal reported on Friday.
Three senators, who each have different stances on immigration reform, had confirmed their attendance as of Friday: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT).
The meeting, hosted by the Republican Study Committee, will be moderated by the committee’s chair, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA).
This is the first significant bicameral discussion on immigration reform, according to the Journal, and will be a test for Rubio as he tries to win over reform skeptics within his own party.
Democrats, who hope to pass immigration legislation before the July 4 recess, think it will be “pretty easy” to get the legislation through the Senate.
“I talked about this to a number of my senators today…” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid recently said. “I think we have 60 votes. Remember, we start out at 55 Democrats. I think the most I’ll lose is two or three. Let’s say I wind up with 52 Democrats. I only need eight Republicans, and I already have four, so that should be pretty easy.”
