The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Next big challenge: Getting OK for deal
Congress, Trump must approve deal by Friday to avoid shutdown.
President Donald Trump said he isn’t happy with the bipartisan agreement on border security intended to avert another government shutdown, and said he’s still considering declaring a national emergency to bypass Congress to get money for his proposed wall.
“I’m not happy about it. It’s not doing the trick,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday. But he added, “I don’t think you’re going to see a shutdown.”
The tentative pact reached Monday night provides $1.375 billion for 55 new miles of border fencing in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley area, according to congressional aides who spoke on condition of anonymity.
That’s short of the $5.7 billion Trump wants for a wall.
But the agreement also rejects limits Democrats sought on detentions of immigrants apprehended in the U.S.
It still has to be written into legislation, pass both chambers of Congress and get Trump’s approval before Friday night to avoid a partial government shutdown.
The agreement on the remaining seven spending bills would keep government agencies open through the end of the fiscal year, including the Department of Homeland Security that oversees border protection.
It was a rare feat of bipartisan compromise that only 24 hours earlier had seemed out of reach.
Aides said Democrats dropped their demand for a cap on detention beds for immigrants detained within the U.S. Instead, the deal would set an average daily cap at 45,274 beds — less than the 49,057 now detained, two aides said. Democrats believe that will drop the number detained to 40,520 by Sept. 30.
But the aides said Trump would retain authority to expand the number of beds by transferring money from other security accounts.
When asked whether Trump will support the deal, Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby said, “We think so, we hope so.” He said the White House had given Republican negotiators wide latitude to reach a deal.
Also participating in Monday’s meetings were Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas.
“If the four of us couldn’t get it together, Congress never could,” said Leahy, the Senate Appropriations panel’s top Democrat.
Lowey, the House Appropriations chairwoman, said congressional staff will put together the details of the agreement. Votes would need to be taken before Friday night, when funding expires for the government agencies.
“I hope by Wednesday we’ll have a finished product,” Lowey said. “Some people may think it’s a great deal, some people may have done it differently, but we did it together and I really think it’s a good product.”
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has said she would accept whatever accord the group came up with, and Lowey said she had signed off on the deal.
If Trump doesn’t go along, however, some GOP senators say they’re unlikely to support it, although Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., hasn’t ruled out bringing it to a vote.