Story highlights Lindsey Graham's announcement makes it more difficult to pass a spending bill

Republican leaders need 60 votes when they only control 51 in the chamber

Washington (CNN) Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wednesday he won't vote for a short-term spending bill -- also known as a continuing resolution or CR -- that Republicans are attempting to pass by Friday night to avoid a government shutdown.

The South Carolina Republican continued to push for the bipartisan proposal that he and five other senators pitched to the President last week -- which addresses the expiring Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program -- though that plan was rejected

"I'm not going to vote for a CR," Graham told reporters Wednesday. "I want to be fair to the DACA population. I want to begin to fix a broken immigration system. But above all else I want to rebuild the military that's in a great decline. ... And there is no way in the world to fix this problem without dealing with the DACA issue."

Graham's announcement makes it more difficult for Republicans to pass the short-term spending bill in the Senate. With 51 votes in the chamber, the GOP already faced an uphill battle of getting to the magic number of 60 votes to advance the bill, meaning they would need help from Democrats even if all 51 Republicans were to support the bill.

House Republicans introduced a plan Tuesday night that would fund the government until February 16, but it doesn't include a solution ahead of the DACA deadline on March 5, nor does it include a full year budget for the military.

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