Pivotal moment for immigration reform comes this week

 Republicans and Democrats will determine this week if they are prepared to cut a critical bipartisan deal on immigration that has become key to clearing a year-long government spending bill.

Lawmakers in the Senate will attempt to write legislation that protects so-called Dreamers from deportation but implements strong border security elements as well as reforms to chain migration and the visa lottery system.

Republicans, at their annual retreat at West Virginia's Greenbrier Resort, came to no consensus among themselves about an immigration plan their party can agree on, and lawmakers weren’t clear whether a bill would be ready this week.

“The biggest issue on immigration is not trying to resolve it among Republicans right now, but building a bipartisan coalition in the Senate that the White House can also agree on, and that the House can agree on,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told the Washington Examiner.

Next week, a stopgap spending bill will expire, requiring lawmakers to pass another temporary spending bill. Last month, Democrats for three days blocked government funding legislation because it did not include a provision to protect Dreamers.