Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., set up a vote Friday morning to focus on the debate over immigration, The Hill reported.
McConnell set up a shell bill passed by the House of Representatives to be a vehicle for the Senate debate, and a vote to take up that bill is expected Monday, the website noted.
"The bill I move to, which will not have underlying immigration text, will have an amendment process that will ensure a level playing field at the outset," McConnell said from the Senate floor, The Hill reported.
The bill McConnell chose now sets up a chance for both Republicans and Democrats to offer up amendments that would compete to bring in 60 votes, the amount needed to advance Senate legislation, according to CNN.
A group of the No. 2 lawmakers in both parties — including Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Reps. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and John Cornyn, R-Texas — has not been able to put together a deal that the White House favors, The Hill reported.
White House director of legislative affairs Marc Short said earlier in the week they wanted its immigration framework to be the Senate's starting point for debate.
Democrats and some Republicans have critiqued that framework over its cuts to legal immigration and limitations on family-based immigration, The Hill reported.
Legislators have a March 5 deadline to address fixes to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
On Wednesday, McConnell tweeted that the immigration debate will be "fair to all sides."
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