Sen. James Lankford James Paul LankfordMcConnell works to lock down GOP votes for coronavirus bill Charities scramble to plug revenue holes during pandemic Warren calls for Postal Service board members to fire DeJoy or resign MORE (R-Okla.) on Sunday called President Trump Donald John TrumpObama calls on Senate not to fill Ginsburg's vacancy until after election Planned Parenthood: 'The fate of our rights' depends on Ginsburg replacement Progressive group to spend M in ad campaign on Supreme Court vacancy MORE's proposal to extend protections for some immigrants in exchange for wall funding a "straw man proposal" that is not meant to become law.

Lankford said on ABC's "This Week" that he and other Republicans encouraged the White House to "put out a proposal."

"They’ve listened to a lot of Democrat and Republican members for the last month. They’ve heard all the demands. They know all the background on it. Put out a straw man proposal. Get something out there the president can say, 'I can support this,' and it has elements from both sides, put it on the table, then open it up for debate," he said.

"The vote this week in the Senate is not to pass the bill," Lankford continued. "It is to open up and say, 'Can we debate this? Can we amend it? Can we make changes?' Let’s find a way to be able to get the government open because there are elements in this that are clearly elements that have been supported by Democrats strongly in the past."

"I certainly hope we're not back to square one," GOP Sen. James Lankford says as Democrats reject President Trump's proposal.



"The problem that we've had for the past 30 days has been everyone's been staring at everyone playing politics instead of policy" https://t.co/H8t6cY7vfY pic.twitter.com/UyFOggvTh7 — This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 20, 2019

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Trump said Saturday that he would extend protections for some groups of immigrants in exchange for $5.7 billion in funding for a wall along the southern border, an offer Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called a "non-starter."

Trump's demand for a wall along the border sparked the ongoing government shutdown, which has been in effect since Dec. 22. He has said he will refuse to sign a bill to reopen the government that doesn't include funding for the wall.