Possible Budget Deal Falls Short of Trump's Demands

By Connor D. Wolf | February 12, 2019

President Donald Trump soon could be getting a budget proposal that doesn’t include his demands to fully fund a border security wall, according to reports late Monday.

Trump was just about to participate in a rally in El Paso, Texas, on Monday night when he heard that a tentative deal was reached.

Congressional negotiators have been meeting for the past couple of weeks to try to avert another partial government shutdown. Negotiators reached a deal late on Monday that includes $1.375 billion to build 55 miles of new border barriers, the Associated Press reported in the evening.

Trump is unlikely to sign such a proposal if he sticks by his demand for $5.7 billion to build over 200 miles of wall along the southern border.

The funds will also be for vertical steel slats called bollards, instead of for a solid concrete wall.

Congress has to pass a proposal to fund the government and the president needs to sign it before another partial government shutdown this Friday.

Trump said late last year he would not sign any more spending bills that did not include border wall funding.

Democratic leaders opposed providing any funding for the wall — which led both sides to bring about a partial government shutdown on December 22. But the president eventually backed away from his veto threat by signing the short-term bill on January 25.

Democrats reportedly dropped their proposal to limit the number of detained illegal immigrants caught inside the country to a daily average of 16,500. The conference committee also agreed to fund 40,520 beds to detain immigrants entering or already in the country illegally at the same number funded last year.

The earlier short-term spending bill reopened the government for an additional three weeks to give both sides time to negotiate a deal on border security.

Lawmakers formed a conference committee that’s been tasked with reaching a deal on border security before the next shutdown deadline.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) led the opposition against the president throughout the earlier government shutdown. They repeatedly said they were unwilling to negotiate on border security until the president reopened the government. But since the government has reopened, they’ve reaffirmation their opposition to the wall.

Trump has stressed repeatedly the importance of having a border wall. He even dedicated a good portion of his speech in El Paso, Texas, last night to the issue.

He’s argued the wall is critical to deterring illegal drugs and criminal gangs during press conferences throughout the shutdown as well. He also dedicated his first Oval Office address to the issue.

And check out this clip from Trump’s El Paso rally last night:

This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

Possible Budget Deal Falls Short of Trump’s Demands

Instead of the $5.7 billion for security the president requested, the 'agreement in principle' includes $1.375 billion to build 55 miles of new border barriers