Thursday afternoon the Senate met the 60-vote threshold required to advance the Laken Riley Act, a bill that is especially important to President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to combat illegal immigration.
If approved and signed into law, the legislation would permit federal agents to detain foreign nationals accused of "burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting."
Currently an alien can only be detained if he commits a more serious crime.
The bill was named after a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was murdered last year by a Venezuelan national, who was previously arrested for shoplifting after he illegally entered the United States.
Last year when the House of Representatives passed the bill, it was blocked by then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
This time out we have a Republican-controlled Senate, so that wasn’t an issue when the chamber received the bill from the House. But the hero wasn’t the Republican Senate majority leader — it was Sen. John Fetterman — a Pennsylvania Democrat.
Republicans hold a 52-47 majority in the Senate, meaning they needed at least eight Democrats to meet that 60-vote threshold required by the filibuster rule.
Fetterman not only joined Senate Republicans, but also co-sponsored the bill.
"Laken Riley’s story is a tragic reminder of what’s at stake when our systems fail to protect people. No family should have to endure the pain of losing a loved one to preventable violence," Fetterman told Politico in a statement.
"Immigration is what makes our country great. I support giving authorities the tools to prevent tragedies like this one while we work on comprehensive solutions to our broken system."
Then Fetterman promised to be a cheerleader for the bill, by persuading at least seven more Senate Democrats to join him in approving it.
"If we can't come up with at least seven votes that's a reason we lost,” he said.
"I'd like to remind everybody that we have hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants convicted of crimes. Who wants to defend, allow them to remain in our nation?” Fetterman added, "I don't know why anybody thinks it's controversial that they all need to go."
All he needed were seven more votes. Fetterman didn’t get the seven — he got 25 instead, and the Laken Riley Act advanced to the debate stage by a vote of 84 - 9. More Democrats voted "Yes" than who voted "No."
That was the opposite of Tuesday’s House vote, which approved the measure 264-159, with only 48 Democrats supporting it.
Observed X user RightGlockMom: “WHY is radical Schumer still minority leader when Fetterman is the one showing leadership instead of resistance?”
That doesn’t mean that the Senate has approved the bill. Debate could lead to some changes, but success looks a lot closer now than it did a week ago.
President-elect Trump has a long row to hoe if he wants to advance his agenda through Congress within the next two years — the only time Republicans are guaranteed to control both chambers of Congress.
He also has a nose for talent that he can use to advance that agenda.
So, it was just natural that he would look to the senior senator from Pennsylvania. Trump asked Fetterman for a meeting at Mar-a-Lago.
Did he accept? You bet he did!
"That is the plan," Fetterman told CBS News about the upcoming meeting.
"Yes, we are going to have a conversation."
This will be the first known meeting between a sitting U.S. Democratic senator and Trump at his Palm Beach estate since the November election.
"I think that one, he's the president, or he will be officially," Fetterman said. "And I think it's pretty reasonable that if the president would like to have a conversation — or invite someone to have a conversation — to have it. And no one is my gatekeeper."
Fetterman also emphasized a principle more politicians should adopt: people over party.
"I've been very clear that I have ongoing conversations with people that are going to have an impact on Pennsylvania and for the nation," Fetterman said. "And I am a senator for Pennsylvania, not just for Democrats. I am a senator for everyone in Pennsylvania."
The future Trump-Fetterman meeting brings to mind the last line in the classic 1942 film "Casablanca."
Nightclub owner Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) tells Captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains) as they walk away into the fog, "Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
And so it could — with America benefitting the most from that friendship.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and a Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.