USA TODAY International Edition
Trump not a fan of deal
Senate leaders encourage president to avoid another shutdown
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump slammed a tentative border security agreement reached by congressional negotiators looking to avert another government shutdown, but he did not say Tuesday whether he would sign the legislation if it reaches his desk.
While expressing dissatisfaction with the deal reached Monday night by a bipartisan group of budget negotiators, Trump also said he did not want to see a government shutdown.
“Am I happy at first glance? I just got to see it,” Trump told reporters at a Cabinet meeting at the White House. “The answer is no, I’m not. I’m not happy.”
But he added: “I don’t think you’re going to see a shutdown. I wouldn’t want to go to it, no.”
On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate could vote “in short order” on the tentative proposal.
While the agreement doesn’t have everything Trump wanted, “I think he’s got a pretty good deal here,” said McConnell, R-Ky. “I hope he’ll decide to sign it.”
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the agreement represents “a path forward for our country” and would help avoid “another round of fraught negotiations” as lawmakers rush to beat Friday’s fastapproaching deadline.
“Please Mr. President,” he said. “Sign it and don’t cause a shutdown.”
To avoid another shutdown, Congress must pass the deal and Trump must sign it by midnight Friday, when existing funding will expire.
Trump, in his remarks at the White House, said he would be “adding things” to the agreement, but it wasn’t clear whether the bipartisan group of lawmakers that negotiated the deal would be willing to accept changes.
The deal includes $1.375 billion for a structure along the southern border – well below the $5.7 billion Trump has demanded for the wall that he made a central promise of his 2016 presidential campaign. Congressional aides said the agreement would fund 55 miles of barrier, less than Trump’s most recent proposal, which called for 234 miles of new physical barrier. It was not yet clear whether the funding in the agreement would cover the replacement of existing border fencing or just new fencing.
Democrats also sought to limit the number of detention slots, or “beds,” that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could have at its disposal to detain undocumented immigrants apprehended inside the country. Democrats originally had hoped to cap that number at 16,500. The White House rejected that proposal; instead, Democrats have agreed to no cap on detention slots.
The agreement already is under fire from conservatives, who have been urging Trump not to abandon his push for $5.7 billion for a border wall.