journal" , live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. morning, monday we will open up your calls and take your reactions to the government shutdown in the top news stories of 2018. the sure to watch c-span's "washington journal" and join the discussion. following a lunch with president trump, south carolina senator lindsey graham spoke to reporters outside of the white house about the border wall funding, the government shutdown, and isis. lindsey graham: well, we had a two hour lunch and had a very enjoyable lunch. if anything, he is not a man under siege.

he is firm and his commitment to make sure we get money for there willrity and never be a 60 vote deal in the senate that does not include money for more security -- for border security/wall. the one thing we talked about was making deals. there is a lot of this trust in town and i guess you can blame both sides for that, but i've never been more encouraged that we can get people talking, we can find our way out of this mess and that would include around $5 billion for border security/wall/fencing, whatever you want to call it, and areas that make sense, and deal with another problem that is looming. i think the president is going to eventually win his court case regarding daca. the president has put on the table several times relief of the daca population.

since we're talking about $5 billion, we are going to have the scale things back. i think it is possible if we start talking to each other to have a deal that would provide relief to the daca population called the bridge act. senator durbin and i introduced this and it would give work permits for all daca eligible recipients, about 700,000, so they could go to school, go to work, and not fear or having their legal status change anytime soon. the bill says three years with one time renewable. about 400,000 people came to america over the last 20 or 30 claiming war zones, natural disasters, and their legal status about to run out. there's a lot of sympathy for this population and the congress and president is very open-minded about this dilemma.

today is anoned outline of potential breakthroughs that would be $5 billion for wall,/border security. the bridge act and tps reform. that is in the realm of possibility. the president did not commit, but i think he is very open-minded. there are some democrats out there who would be willing to for a border security if we could deal with the daca situation. hopefully we can get some serious discussion started as early as next week. >> with the president be able to put citizenship numbers on the table? >> not for $5 billion, i am not willing to do that. had in february is not going to be replicated. $25re not going to do million of the dream act and the past way -- pathway to

citizenship, but i think we could do the p -- bridge act. i think we can get on the table. >> how did you outline this to president trump, was the first word out of your mouth? sen. graham: interesting. >> how is his body language? sen. graham: we had a great lunch. we talked about syria and he told me some things i did not know that many feel a lot better about where we are headed. he promised to destroy isis. he is going to keep that promise but we are not there yet, but as i said we are inside the 10 yard line and the president understands the need to finish the job. he is worried about iranian influence and potential dangers of israel from having a superhighway from beirut to tehran in terms of delivering weapons into lebanon.

he will we talking to turkey about making sure that we do not have the turks and their allies the kurds. i like what i've heard and we still have some differences, but i will tell you that the president is thinking long and , how tout syria withdraw our forces, but at the same time, secure our national security interests which is to make sure that isis is destroyed , they never come back, that our allies the kurds are protected, and i feel pretty good about where we are headed and i told the president that his trip to iraq was much appreciated. i think he learned a lot and i certainly learned a lot from him today. on multiple fronts, the president is in a good mood and he feels like he has gotten to deliver on the promise of securing garbled -- securing our border. semantics -- how is the

president defining border security and the wall? a $5.6aham: he has million appropriation that was sent over from the house. look at that. that appropriation is what we need and what he wants. given the context of what was sent over from the i thinkus other things is in the realm of possibility. >> if they all trade did not work in the past, what makes you think it will work now? sen. graham: it was never just it was athe wall, lot of moving parts. the that diversity and thewas ended, president did put a pathway to citizenship on the table for 1.8 million dreamers, but that was a bridge too far.

i think we have a chance to end 2018 and 2019 with a andkthrough on immigration $5 billion of appropriation widely spent would go a long way to securing our border. if we can find a way to make sure that the daca recipients have a work permit, it makes their lives better. population, all of us trying to find a way to help them, because there is a deal to be had. >> is the president willing to back off if democrats want to talk about technology, is he willing to say does not have to be a wall? sen. graham: democrats have .oted for $7 -- wall border$42 billion for security including $9 billion

barriers.al the wall has become a metaphor for border security. what we are talking about is a physical barrier that makes sense. in the past, every democrat has voted for these physical barriers. it cannot just be about because trump wants it, we no longer want anything with it. atre will never be a deal the end of this year, the beginning of the next, the does not have money for the physical e iniers that we all havr the past agreed we need. the president is not asking for too much. we are going to put on the table some ideas that have been embraced in the past. the question, can we stop hating each other enough to find a way forward to be a win-win? the president was in a very good mood, he was up eat, and he is receptive to making a deal if it achieves his goal of securing

our border. i think we can get there if everybody will start talking to each other. the president had two high-profile border security lunches. why are not democrats coming over here? view have thoughts on when you can see -- sen. graham: it is pretty hard to get here from hawaii, but the phones work. >> what about last week? sen. graham: the democrats have said they are not going to give him a dime for a border wall, ,he house will change next week they are going to send over to a bill from the house, and it will for ave any money physical barrier, and that is not going to fly. approach the democrats have taken up made it pretty hard to have a discussion.

after lunch today, i think the president is telling us what he wants, and he is willing to do some things to get what he wants. to my democratic friends, there is something that you want the -- that can be had if you agree to border security and a reasonable way. the reason we are not talking is because the house democrats have told us there is no way, know how we're going to get what you want. how to the president about slowing down? sen. graham: the president's iraq,ed iraq -- trip to the generals told him that isis was in a world of hurt. the president assured me that he is going to make sure he gets the job down and i assured him -- done, and i assured him that

nobody has done more to defeat isis than he has. then we have got the kurds. they stepped up one nobody else and he is very aware of that problem. he is going to be talking to turkey about assuring that turkey will have a buffer zone given the concerns that they have about the ypot -- why b -- ypt kurds. we want is for iran to be the big winner. was drawhis goal to our forces from syria, but i just want to be it in a smart way and make sure iran is not the big winner. withfter the discussions the president and the general, i've never felt better. i think we are slowing things down in a smart way, but the goal is always been the same.

day we leave syria, make sure it isis never comes back and our partners are taken care of. i think that is possible. it is going to take a little bit longer than i read he, but hopefully we get there. >> did you want him to reconsider on syria? sen. graham: i think the president has come up with a plan with a general that makes sense to me. the goal is to make it isis does not come back. we left iraq too soon. president is very committed to making sure that , that theave syria isis is completely defeated and we are inside the 10 yard line. and the iran-kurd situation has to be dealt with. we are in a situation where we are reevaluating what is the best way to achieve the president's objective of having people pay more into do more. we had the british and the french still in syria. god bless them. but the region needs to put the

money into syria. is do you hold raqqa that completely destroyed without having somebody completely rebuild it? the rebuilding should come from the region, and we will see what happens here in the next few better aboutfeel syria then i felt before i had lunch. i did the president is taking this seriously and the trip to iraq was well-timed. think this do you goes on for? thank you for coming out. >> comebacks in. -- come back soon. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. today we continue to bring you unfolds in coverage of congress, the white hou