Kelly Leads 12 Senate Colleagues Urging Republican Leadership to Pursue Bipartisan Solutions on Border and Immigration

Today, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly led 12 of his Senate colleagues in a letter to Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune stressing the importance of working together on pressing border security and immigration needs. Kelly was joined by Senators Gary Peters (D-MI), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Angus King (I-ME), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mark Warner (D-VA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), and Chris Coons (D-DE).

"As we have shown, Democrats and Republicans can work together on real bipartisan solutions. We can solve big challenges when we work together, and there is much work to do to improve border security, protect Dreamers and farmworkers, and fix our immigration system to better reflect the needs of our country and our modern economy," the senators say.

In the letter, the lawmakers stress that bipartisan cooperation is necessary to craft and advance meaningful and long-lasting solutions.

They continue, "We understand that Senate Republicans have discussed using the budget reconciliation process to advance border security budget measures without any Democratic input. While that's your right, in working together on a bipartisan basis, we can achieve the best outcome for the American people. There are also limitations to what can be done under budget reconciliation, and as we've seen time and time again, no party has all the solutions on this or any issue."

At the conclusion of the letter, the Democratic senators emphasize their willingness to work with their Republican counterparts on legislation that can pass the Senate.

"We remain ready to work with you in good faith to craft legislation that can achieve bipartisan support and 60 votes in the Senate. While there will be challenges, addressing the pressing needs of our nations' borders and finding bipartisan solutions to our outdated immigration system are too important to ignore in the 119th Congress," they close.

Click here to read the full letter.