Story highlights Nearly three dozen lawmakers signed onto a letter to Ryan

Flake said he spoke with the President last week about the issue

Washington (CNN) Moderate Republicans in Congress are seeking to lead on a possible solution for young undocumented immigrants, as a group on Tuesday pushed their leadership to reach a deal by the end of the year.

Thirty-four Republicans on Tuesday signed a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan urging him that Congress should act "immediately" on a "permanent legislative solution for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients before the end of the year."

On the Senate side, Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake told reporters Monday that he is working with Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin and Michael Bennet along with fellow Republican Sen. Cory Gardner to reach a bipartisan deal on DACA, a program that protects young undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children from deportation, which President Donald Trump is ending.

Flake said he spoke with the President last week about the issue and he was headed to the White House again on Tuesday for a meeting with Gardner and other senators and the President on year-end issues.

"I think his instincts on this are right," Flake said Monday of Trump and past positive statements he's made about preserving DACA legislatively. "He's been pulled different directions by others who have an interest either in getting done or blocking it. So I think he's getting pulled, but I think his instincts on this, I don't say this about every issue, but I think his instincts on DACA are right."

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