Congress Sprints To Pass Border Security Package With Trump's Support Unclear
Updated Feb 14, 2019
NPR

Congressional leaders are prepared to v**e Thursday on a $333 billion bipartisan spending package to avoid the threat of a partial government shutdown, despite mixed signals from President Trump.

The legislation, which was released early Thursday morning, includes $1.375 billion in funding for border fencing and increases in additional border security funding. The legislation also funds a number of unrelated agencies that have become part of the overall spending fight.

Democrats are celebrating the legislation as a victory over Trump's demand for $5.7 billion to build more than 200 miles of concrete wall along the U.S. Border with Mexico. The final agreement includes a fraction of that funding for steel fencing that is similar to existing barriers elsewhere on the border.

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is encouraging Republicans to support the legislation anyway. He praised the agreement as a "solid deal" that is the product of a successful bipartisan process.

"The product of this work is a compromise that no side will view as a perfect deal," McConnell said on the Senate floor. "Later today, I hope each of my colleagues will join me in moving forward with this."

Other top Republicans have repeated the message, even going so far as to pray the president agrees.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the longest serving Republican in the Senate, spoke up after the daily morning prayer on Thursday with an amendment of his own.

"Let's all pray that the president will have wisdom to sign the bill so government doesn't shut down," Grassley said before leading the chamber in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Top congressional negotiators say the compromise includes carefully tailored border spending, allowing both parties to selectively celebrate portions of the bill.

Republicans, like Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., have focused heavily on the investment in 55 miles of new border fencing.

"This legislation makes a significant down payment on the border wall," Shelby said in a statement. "I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this package so we can demonstrate to the American people that we are here to work together and do our jobs."

Democrats say the money falls far short of Trump's original demand for $5.7 billion for a border wall. The bill has restrictions on where the fencing can be built, including explicit protections for sites like a butterfly refuge in the Rio Grande Valley.

House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., point to new spending on humanitarian aid at the border and increased border technology as victories in the bill.

"This agreement denies funding for President Trump's border wall and includes several key measures to make our immigration system more humane," Lowey said in the statement. "It also rejects the President's irresponsible budget cuts and instead invests in priorities that will strengthen our families, communities, and economy, like public safety, support for small businesses, environmental protection, t***sportation, housing and robust American global leadership."

Negotiators were confident the package could pass in Congress, but Trump has been vague about his support.

"I don't want to see a shutdown, a shutdown would be a terrible thing," Trump told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with Colombian President Iván Duque. "I think a point was made with the last shutdown, people realized how bad the border is. How unsafe the border is. And I think a lot of good points were made. But I don't want to see another one, there's no reason for it."

Deputy White House Communications Director Adam Kennedy told NPR's Morning Edition that Trump "doesn't want his hands tied on border security" and his support is contingent upon learning further details of the bill.

"I think the president is going to fully review the bill," Kennedy said. "I think he wants to review it before he signs it."

It is unclear whether the agreement will have widespread support among House Republicans in particular. The chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, Mark Meadows, R-N.C., has criticized the agreement as failing to meet Trump's border demands.

At least one Republican negotiator, Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ga., refused to sign the report on the agreement and signal his support for the deal.

Graves said he needed more time to read the package before he could decide whether he supports the policies.

The legislation includes a number of funding changes for programs ranging from border security to energy and environment.

The spending bills include $9.3 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency and the Land and Water Conservation Fund, $17 billion in new infrastructure funding, a $1.8 billion spending increase for the 2020 census and a 1.9 percent pay raise for federal workers.

However, negotiators were unable to agree on a number of priorities they hoped to include as add-ons to the spending bill. Talks broke down over a measure to provide back pay for federal contractors who missed paychecks during the last shutdown, according to several aides familiar with the talks.

That failure forced them to abandon all unrelated policies, like funding for disaster aid and an extension of the Violence Against Women Act.

Leaders plan to try to address those issues separately, and grants under the Violence Against Women Act will continue to be funded, according to several leadership aides.

China trade is being discussed, I was expecting news about a final deal today, I think it will be similar to Nafta, if Trump can't pacify the Chinese I'm going Democrat, and I don't think a New Nafta - "a wonderful new trade-deal" - will cut it with Xi Jinping.

New Nafta wasn't that great, and solved none of the problums for farmers in Mexico or industry and mining in Latin America which is harmed by US Corporate Welfare and subsidies to US farmers, but China is advantaged by Big Farmer and Little Farmers getting hand-outs so it's complicated but Australian media is going into overdrive supporting US isolating China, on the bright side our Government is on the ropes and a replacement Government would make like Duterte of the Philippines, I have close connections to the Philippines personally, and we see Duterte the big winner around here.

Australian media would still go with the Liberal Foreign Policy supporting the US against China even if Labour wins in May, which is not in our interests, it's just a privliged group of people willing to stymie our economic interests to keep employed, some of these names might be familiar to Americans, Robert Murdoch, his son Lachlan Murdoch, James Packer, Gina Rinehart.

Robert Murdoch owns News Corp which owns Fox News which is a Channel created in 1996 by Australian born American Media Mogul Robert Murdoch who hired Roger Ailes as it's founding CEO, Robert Murdoch is a major donor to GOP.

Another good reason for me to move on, I see fresh faces in the Dems that I like all new faces coming on board with Trump make me feel bad.

Also I might take a break and see what happens in Venezuela, I checked out before Christmas but Trump announced he was quitting Syria then the Fed came good, but it could have been a phantom window of opportunity that Trump for some unknown reason to me seems like he wants to try floating from.

You might be right Trump was a God send compared to Hillary and I'm more about men's rights, the Dems are clueless there. Thanks for the opportunity to publish my stuff.

Publicis Huldah, X attorney, word press blogger, degree in philosophy as far as I know her thing epistemology is phenomenology sometimes called ontology, what the hell would she knows about Globalisation ? the Globe is all about recreation poor folks work rich folks play and God is the result of a Global agenda otherwise Religion would be the same form state to finish.

So it's not from work or knowledge that knowing about Globalism comes from its playing, which Trump's very good at, my question is, - perchance National Sovereignty a disconnect from Globalisation?.

So Trump could be disconnected, no one knows for sure, however I suspect he could be a G*******t believing Plutocrats should be in charge of Governments as Huldah maintains the case to be about New Nafta ( USMCA).

For Xi Jinping Nationalism is unquestionably the major aspect of his Global agenda Huldah would probably think Xi is a G*******t who would support USMAC with the proviso that Corporations which benefit from those arrangements when dealing with China would be subordinate to a different set of rules.

I could be wrong but I think Xi will consider Trump has over played US capabilities and push back next week.

Heavy man, that's really heavy, there is great interdependence between everybody, a major disruption is something I would never advocate, and State against Federal is anathema in Australia.

In Australia I think we feel genuine emotional relief everytime Federation is mentioned, imagine paying 7 State Bureaucries instead of one, all them seperate Embassies in all them Counties in the World, seperate Armies Navies Central Banks.

I think this rearrangement of seperate powers is utopianist, but I agree the problems do have to be tackled on a similar level expounded by by McCulloch v Maryland case, I think that is where your 200 years is coming from, but 19 enumerated services affected by foreign powers is a lot to challenge.

Take the Mueller investigation that is winding up, my final take is the big loser who's looking at long time imprisonment is Paul Manafort who was closely connected to Victor Yanukovych and so Putin through Trump, that can be seen as Foreign involvements come back to haunt a Foreign Criminal Enterprise, if that's what Trump really was, there is no other evidence and Manafort is a weak link.

However my take is the problem was that Yanukovych was shafted successfully, but the Ukraine as a Nation ended with him.

Your challenge to 19 enumerated services could easily end up in disaster like the Ukraine.

I'm not trying to put you off, but I got my doubts, I will stay with OPP and keep an eye on things.