Trump Weighs In on Congressional Border Compromise: 'I Can't Say I'm Thrilled'
The Latest on congressional border security negotiations and President Donald Trump (all times local):
12:15 p.m.
President Donald Trump says ‘I can’t say I’m thrilled’ with a congressional compromise on border security designed to avert a second government shutdown.
A committee negotiating new border security measures tentatively agreed Monday night to dedicate $1.4 billion to Trump’s border wall, far less than his $5.7 billion goal.
The huge funding measure, which combines seven spending bills into one, would fund several federal agencies through Sept. 30.
The question now is whether Trump will sign the measure. He says he can’t say he’s happy. Still, he says the wall is getting built. Trump also says he doesn’t believe there will be another shutdown.
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10:40 a.m.
The White House says it needs more time to assess a bipartisan border security deal.
Spokesman Hogan Gidley says it’s difficult to say what will and won’t be acceptable before officials have a chance to review details of the proposal House and Senate lawmakers agreed to Monday night. Gidley says the White House wants to focus on what’s actually in the document, not “what could be” in it.
President Donald Trump has demanded $5.7 billion to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall but Congress has refused to provide the money. Negotiators instead have tentatively agreed to $1.4 billion for border barriers — well below the amount Trump has sought.
Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, a lead negotiator, said Monday that the White House has been consulted “all along.”
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10:35 a.m.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is urging President Donald Trump to accept the emerging border security deal and “not, not, not cause another shutdown.”
Schumer called the tentative accord “welcome news” and a “path forward.”
The New York senator argued that neither side will achieve everything they wanted from the deal. But he says “hopefully this agreement means there won’t be another government shutdown.”
Congress is pushing toward a deadline Friday to fund the government or risk another partial federal shutdown.
Trump has not said whether he’ll accept the deal reached late Monday by budget negotiators. It provides about $1.4 billion for border barriers, but falls far short of the $5.7 billion Trump was demanding for the border wall with Mexico.
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10:25 a.m.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says a bipartisan border security deal is “good news” as Congress races to avert another shutdown by Friday’s deadline.
McConnell opened the Senate on Tuesday by saying he was hopeful the chamber “can act on this legislation in short order.”
President Donald Trump has been demanding $5.7 billion to build the wall with Mexico along the southern border, but Congress has refused to provide the money. Instead, bipartisan negotiators struck a tentative accord with nearly $1.4 billion for border barriers, far short of what Trump wanted.
The emerging deal also drops Democratic demands to seriously limit detentions of immigrants illegally in the U.S.
Congress hopes to vote on the measure before Friday’s deadline to fund the government.
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12:30 a.m.
A tentative agreement to fund the federal government through the fiscal year averts a shutdown but gives President Donald Trump far less money than he sought for building a border wall with Mexico.
The deal hammered out Monday night provides nearly $1.4 billion, not the $5.7 billion the president had demanded and was at the center of the dispute that sparked last month’s record shutdown.
The agreement calls for 55 miles of metal slats or other types of new fencing, not a concrete wall. The fencing would be built in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.
The pact includes money for other border security measures, including advanced screening at border entry points and customs officers.
Aides revealed some details under condition of anonymity because the agreement is tentative.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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