WASHINGTON, D.C. - In a new, bipartisan agreement, Congress has developed a tentative plan for United States border security. According to a report in Bloomberg, the deal would provide $1.375 billion for 55 new miles (88.5 kilometers) of border fencing in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley area—potentially a sweet enough deal for Trump to call off threats shutting down the government once again come Friday’s deadline.
Though short of the $5.7 billion wall funding that Trump has been asking for, the deal does seem to be a compromise on both sides. Congressional Democrats will not see new limits applied to how many immigrants can be detained by the Trump administration as they were originally pushing for. The proposed deal is certainly not set in stone yet. To avoid a government shutdown, the agreement needs to be written into legislation, pass both chambers of Congress, and be approved by Trump himself before Friday night.
Questions now remain on whether or not Trump will accept the compromise with Democrats and approve the deal as is. Trump met with his Cabinet Tuesday morning and expressed initial dissatisfaction with the congressional agreement.
“Am I happy at first glance? I just got to see it. The answer is no, I'm not. I'm not happy,” Trump told reporters, according to CBS News. “But am I happy with where we're going? I'm thrilled. Because we're supplementing things and moving things around, and we're doing things that are fantastic and taking from far less really from far less important areas. And the bottom line is we're building a lot of wall, right now, we're building a lot of wall.”
The President noted that he doesn't think there will be another government shutdown, but if there is, Democrats will be at fault.
As far as the government shutdown goes, Bloomberg reported that the deal as is would provide continued funding for a number of U.S. departments, including Agriculture, Commerce, Interior, Justice, State, Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, the Food and Drug Administration, and Environmental Protection Agency.
This situation is developing by the minute as both sides continue to weigh in on the proposed deal. AndNowUKnow will continue to bring you updates on the latest.
