Congressional negotiators say they have reached an agreement in principle to avoid closure



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The four main bipartisan negotiators, stemming from the Monday night negotiations, refused to detail how the agreement was reached or the exact parameters of an agreement, but asked whether this included funding obstacle and a resolution of the problem of detention beds. Richard Shelby, Speaker of the Senate, said: "We got an agreement on all this."

Shelby's comments follow those of a Democratic assistant involved in talks on the financing of border security who said Monday that the negotiators were "very, very close" to an agreement and they are now checking whether the new proposal will obtain the necessary votes to be passed in the House.

Legislators are lagging behind in trying to find the necessary ground for an agreement on border security to be adopted. the two houses of Congress and be promulgated by the president before Friday at midnight to prevent another partial stoppage of the government.

About 25% of the federal government's funding is exhausted by the end of the week and a group of bipartisan legislators have been meeting for weeks to negotiate border security as part of the Department of Homeland Security's budget.

Talks were broken this weekend, but four members of this group – the most Democratic and Republican House and Senate credit committees – met on Monday. to try to negotiate an agreement.

Asked about what was different today, representative Kay Granger, Republican House Speaker of the Conference Committee, cried out: "We may have slept."

"It's always helpful to make a decision," she added.

The imminent deadline is approaching the longest stopping in the history of the US government, which began in December and ended in January after President Donald Trump signed a draft of law to temporarily reopen government closed organs for a period of three weeks to allow negotiations on border security.

What the President will be willing to accept remains a joker on the negotiations. Capitol Hill's Democrats and Republicans have long since indicated that they could reach an agreement if they were left to their own devices, but questions about what the president will accept have continued to inject uncertainty. in the process.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, a leading Democratic negotiator, said the goal of the four main participants in the talks was to reach an agreement on Monday night and then proceed to drafting the final agreement on Tuesday.

"I think we both agree if we can conclude tonight, do it tonight, our goal will be to do it tomorrow," said Leahy of Vermont, about her working with Shelby.

Any agreement must be maintained in the House and Senate and finally the White House.

The Democratic Attaché said that there remained "a lot of work to be done once the agreement got" to prepare him for the floor.

A Republican assistant involved has expressed caution about the progress that has been made in the face of repeated failures in recent weeks, but recognized negotiators "are clearly moving in the right direction."

Another GOP assistant said, "Hear good things tonight."

The most important blocking point in the battle so far has been the president's request for more than $ 5 billion for a border wall. The Democrats have made it clear that it was biased and refused to respond to the president's call for an impasse that caused the initial closure.

Another blocking point also emerged regarding the problem of detention beds for undocumented immigrants held. Democrats believe that detention beds are at the heart of a severe and unnecessarily aggressive immigration policy of the Trump administration. Republicans believe that detention beds are essential to limit the possibility for undocumented immigrants detained to be released in the United States pending hearings.

Democrats began negotiations to reduce the number of detention beds funded to 35,520, while House whites and Republicans requested an increase to 52,000.

The details of the Agreement in principle concluded Monday night are yet to be made public. But according to a Democratic source, the agreement in principle at this stage would include $ 1.375 billion for physical barriers and a level of 40,520 for all ICE beds, which is lower than the 52,000 requested by administration and current equivalent funds.

Rep. David Price, a Democrat from North Carolina sitting on the conference committee, said that if an agreement was reached late Monday, both chambers could probably send something to the president's office before the government's deadline for funding. February 15th.

"I know that the goal is to reach the desired goal tonight," said Price before announcing an agreement. "I hope we are back on track with serious compromises and good faith negotiations."

This story has been updated with additional developments starting on Monday.

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