Deal to avert shutdown reached?
Congressional negotiators reach ‘agreement in principle’ on funding border security
WASHINGTON >> U.S. congressional negotiators said late Monday they had reached a tentative deal on border security funding that would avert another partial government shutdown due to start on Saturday, but provided no details.
“We reached an agreement in principle” on funding border security programs through Sept. 30, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., told reporters.
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., earlier in the day, said he was hopeful a deal could be reached Monday evening. “We’re working in good faith. I believe [Republicans] are too,” he said.
Leahy was meeting with Senate Appropriations Commitee Chairman Shelby, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Nita M. Lowey, D-N.Y., and Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas. The lawmakers are on a bipartisan conference committee charged with striking a border security deal to stave off a shutdown, which would begin Saturday unless the House and Senate pass legislation and President Trump signs it into law.
“Our staffs are going to be working feverishly to put all the particulars together,” Shelby said. He did not say whether Trump would get any money for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Asked if Trump had signed off on the pact, Shelby said the negotiators talked periodically with “White House representatives.” Although not saying Trump had endorsed the outline, he added he thought and hoped the president
could support the deal.
Trump’s December demand for $5.7 billion to help construct the border wall triggered a 35-day partial government shutdown that ended last month without him getting wall funding.
Trump agreed to reopen the government for three weeks to allow congressional negotiators time to find a compromise on government funding for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30, to avert another shutdown.
Lowey said Monday night: “I hope by Wednesday we’ll have a finished product.” Lowey said she had been in touch with House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who she said “has confidence I have made the right decision.”
The outcome remains uncertain, as negotiators must cut a deal before midnight Friday on funding for a series of federal departments. But after back-toback-to-back
meetings between party leaders, they signaled the pathway for a deal had emerged, even if some details remained unsettled.
The discussions are the first major political test for Democrats and Republicans after a 35-day government shutdown froze the paychecks of 800,000 federal workers until Trump backed away from demands late last month. Congress was given a short reprieve to try to reach a longerterm agreement, with a focus on border security and immigration rules.
Negotiators had made steady progress behind closed doors until rifts spilled into the open in recent days, with Democrats and Republicans angrily accusing each other of trying to sabotage the talks and raising fears that another shutdown was imminent.
The central stumbling block was Democrats’ insistence on limiting the number of undocumented immigrants who could be detained. The White House wants more flexibility, saying it needs the ability to tailor rules for felons and
violent criminals.
As the stakes came into focus Monday, leaders from both parties sought to bridge this issue and revive
a compromise.
Granger offered a hint of optimism, telling reporters they were “possibly” moving closer to avoid a shutdown.
And Lowey said she was hopeful as well.
“We’re still talking,” she said during a break between meetings. “As long as there’s talking, there’s life.”
The stalled talks restarted in the U.S. Capitol just hours before a scheduled rally in the Texas border city of El Paso, where Trump will promote his promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, a proposal opposed by Democrats.
A counter-rally was greeting the Republican president, led by hometown Democrat Beto O’Rourke. The former congressman, who is considering seeking his party’s 2020 presidential nomination, gained national prominence by nearly unseating Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in last November’s elections.
In Washington, the small group of lawmakers leading the negotiations met for about two hours. They said they wanted to seal a plan by Monday night to allow time for the legislation to pass the House and Senate and get Trump’s signature by Friday, when funding is due to expire for the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and several other federal agencies.