WASHINGTON (AP) – The undisputed grand prize at stake for President Donald Trump in the border security talks was money for his proposed wall with Mexico.…
WASHINGTON (AP) – The undisputed grand prize at stake for President Donald Trump in the border security talks was money for his proposed wall with Mexico. He flat out got much less than he demanded.
But to clinch the deal that congressional leaders hope to approve this week – and that they’re prodding Trump to sign or risk a new government shutdown – Democrats gave ground, too. Especially in their bid to fetter the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s ability to detain unauthorized immigrants.
It’s the kind of accord that, for now, has elicited few bellows of triumph by either side. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Tuesday called it “a pretty good deal” that Trump should sign. Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., the lead House negotiator, said, “When you have a bipartisan process, you split the win.”
A look at the deal’s key provisions:
BUILD THE WALL? NOT SO MUCH
Democrats went head-to-head with Trump over his campaign mantra, which riles each party’s core voters to near frenzies. Score this one for Democrats.
Trump shut the government down for a record 35 days, starting before Christmas, when Democrats refused to give him $5.7 billion to build more than 200 miles of boundary wall. He even thumbed his nose at a bipartisan Senate bill last year that would have provided $1.6 billion for border barriers.
He ended up with just under $1.4 billion – plus a shutdown that hurt millions of people and inflicted political damage on the GOP .
WHAT $1.4 BILLION CAN BUY
That’s enough money for 55 miles of new construction. But the deal would limit the design to techniques already in use by existing border barriers, like vertical steel slats. Democrats say the language precludes a solid, unbroken “wall.
