DACA deal key in budget standoff

WHITE HOUSE and congressional leaders are still far apart on a deal to end a budget stalemate, a funding fight that hinges in part on a popular immigration program.

At the center of the budget talks is the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects nearly 800,000 young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children from deportation and allows them to work.

Republican and Democratic leaders have been negotiating for weeks to reach a two-year budget agreement that would cover the rest of fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2019.