A bipartisan group of roughly 20 senators are working toward an agreement to reopen the government.
Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) said the group had reached a “consensus of understanding,” not an agreement, noting those are two different things.
Multiple senators who were part of the talks stressed that their talks are fluid, and that the final decision rests with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who have been kept up to date on the talks.
But leaving a meeting held in Sen. Susan Collins’s (R-Maine) office, some members expressed optimism that they will reach an understanding, if not a final agreement, that would allow them to approve a bill to reopen the government.
“Yeah, because if it doesn’t happen tonight, it’s going to be a lot harder,” he said.
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said that there is a “glimmer of hope” that the Senate could wrap up its work this evening rather than in the middle of the night.
The bipartisan group isn’t crafting separate legislation. Senators say the bulk of their talks were about how to get 60 votes for the bill to fund the government through Feb. 8, which would then be paired with a commitment that will satisfy Democrats on bringing up an immigration bill.
Collins said they are trying to reach a consensus on what would constitute a “fair process” on immigration, but declined to go into details, saying the talks are still “in flux.”
Sen. Christopher Coons (D-Del.) said most of the Sunday meeting was “procedural.”
“One of the issues is debating, do we need a vote on this issue, or do we need to begin debate on this issue?” Coons said.
Senators left the meeting in Collins’s office to brief both McConnell and Schumer.
Flake noted in a tweet that the two leaders — who did not speak on Saturday — were meeting and talking. But a spokesman for Schumer did not respond to a request for comment about the potential talks.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), leaving Schumer’s office, said the two leaders needed to talk, but that they were “hours away.”
Asked if she was saying lawmakers were hours away from a deal, she quipped that they were hours away from “the end of the night.”
— Updated at 6:01 p.m.