I’m gonna use the word salt here because there is STILL LITTLE chance of a 2nd government shutdown about Trump’s border wall money….
The Republicans and Democrats have kinda agreed that Trump will NOT get the $5 billion + he wanted for a concrete and steel border wall…
The money he does get will be ‘barriers’ …Whatever that turns out to mean…They are talking about less than half the amount Trump wanted….
The sticking point right now seems to be immigration enforcement limits that the Democrats are insisting on to be able get what they want out of a deal…
Democrats want to give some sort protection against ICE hunting down those who have been in the country for years and limiting the amount of people and children that can be kept in detention by the Department of Homeland Security…
Any of these things are going cause TRump’s trusty assistant Stephen Miller heartache…
He has been the force behind pushing for cuts in immigration illegal and legal….
The White House (Not Trump?) has signaled they do NOT want a shutdown and will go along with continuing resolution funding for the agencies and departments that need it….
Trump’s Chief of Staff Mulvaeny was on TV today saying that his boss, President Trump , will steal the money for what he wants in border wall no matter what Congress does…..So THAT is aimed at the Trump base….Congress is sure to put in place legislation that will block Trump from going around them and they would surely challenge such moves by Trump…
We’re less than a week out form the deadline on this…
And if one remembers how these things go?
There is almost ALWAYS last minute drama….
Stay tuned….
The faltering discussions came after lawmakers entered the weekend feeling optimistic about their chances of crafting a bipartisan deal. Negotiators are under pressure to reach an agreement by Monday to fund the government past Feb. 15, in order to allow the House and Senate sufficient time to review and vote on the proposal.
Even if the conference committee fails and Congress considers a stopgap funding bill, Republicans and Democrats may still clash over the particulars of any continuing resolution, a form of appropriations legislation that Democrats may use to restrict unilateral action by Trump on the border.
The White House is open to signing a continuing resolution, a change from its previous position, according to White House and congressional officials. White House officials signaled to lawmakers during a weekend retreat at Camp David that it preferred a continuing resolution to the deal the committee was likely to offer, which would have supplied between $500 million and $1 billion for border fencing in addition to the $1.3 billion in the current stopgap bill, according to one Democratic aide.
Democrats are blaming Shelby for taking a harder line. The senator met on Thursday with Trump, who gave him general parameters for a deal. But according to one person familiar with the meeting, the president did not discuss with Shelby ICE arrests within the U.S., which Republicans say is the biggest outstanding issue.
Negotiations reached an impasse on Saturday, primarily over detention beds and interior enforcement, according to four sources familiar with the talks. Democratic negotiators offered a deal to their Republican counterparts, but Republicans are refusing to negotiate until Democrats take back their demand for a cap on the number of beds used for undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes, two of the sources said.
Though Trump’s hardline demands for $5.7 billion in border wall funding sparked a 35-day partial shutdown this winter, lawmakers had been negotiating this month on replacing some existing barriers, until the enforcement issue halted things entirely over the weekend.
A Democrat familiar with the talks said that if Democrats increased barrier funding, Republicans should be willing to concede on a reduction in detention beds.
“Each side can give,” the Democrat said…..