Talks collapse on border deal as U.S. gov't shutdown looms

[webfact]

Talks collapse on border deal as U.S. gov't shutdown looms

By Richard Cowan and Doina Chiacu

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Senator Richard Shelby speaks during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia July 3, 2018. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Talks on border security funding collapsed after Democratic and Republican lawmakers clashed over immigrant detention policy as they worked to avert another U.S. government shutdown, a Republican senator said on Sunday.

 

"The talks are stalled right now," Republican Senator Richard Shelby told "Fox News Sunday." He said the impasse was over Democrats' desire to cap the number of beds in detention facilities for people who enter the country illegally.

 

Efforts to resolve the dispute over border security funding extended into the weekend as a special congressional negotiating panel aimed to reach a deal by Monday, lawmakers and aides said.

 

Democratic Senator Jon Tester played down any breakdown in talks. "It is a negotiation. Negotiations seldom go smooth all the way through," he told the Fox program. Tester, one of 17 negotiators, said he was hopeful a deal could be reached.

 

But Shelby put the chances of reaching a deal by Monday at 50-50. No further talks were scheduled, a source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

 

The lawmakers hoped to have an agreement by Monday to allow time for the legislation to pass the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate and get signed by President Donald Trump by Friday, when funding for the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies expires.

 

Trump agreed on Jan. 25 to end a 35-day partial U.S. government shutdown without getting the $5.7 billion he had demanded from Congress for a wall along the border with Mexico, handing a political victory to Democrats.

 

Instead, a three-week spending deal was reached with congressional leaders to give lawmakers time to resolve their disagreements about how to address security along the border.

 

One sticking point has been the Democrats' demand for funding fewer detention beds for people arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Republicans want to increase the number as part of their drive to speed immigrant deportations.

 

Since he ran for president in 2016, Trump has pledged to stop the influx of undocumented immigrants by building a wall on the border and crack down on immigrants living in the United States illegally by aggressively conducting more deportations.

 

'DESPERATELY NEEDED'

Democrats proposed lowering the cap on detention beds to 35,520 from the current 40,520 in return for giving Republicans some of the money they want for physical barriers, the source familiar with negotiations said.

 

But Democrats would create a limit within that cap of 16,500 beds at detention facilities for undocumented immigrants apprehended in the interior of the country. The remainder would be at border detention centers.

 

By having the interior cap, ICE agents would be forced to focus on arresting and deporting serious criminals, not law-abiding immigrants, a House Democratic aide said on Sunday.

 

Republicans balked at the Democrats' sub-cap offer, the source said.

 

Trump weighed in Sunday, saying the Democratic proposal would protect felons. "They are offering very little money for the desperately needed Border Wall & now, out of the blue, want a cap on convicted violent felons to be held in detention!" Trump said on Twitter.

 

"Claims that this proposal would allow violent criminals to be released are false," the Democratic aide said.

 

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who is close to Trump, warned against limiting beds. "Donald Trump is not going to sign any legislation that reduces the bed spaces. You can take that to the bank," he said on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures."

 

Lawmakers working on a border deal also have not yet nailed down the amount of money to go for physical barriers along the southern U.S. border, the source said.

 

While a growing number of Republicans in Congress have made it clear they would not embrace anothershutdown, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said he could not rule it out.

 

"You absolutely cannot," Mulvaney, who is also Trump's acting chief of staff, told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "Is a shutdown entirely off the table? The answer is no."

 

Lawmakers, however, were working to avoid it.

 

On Friday, some of the negotiators said that if Congress could not pass a border security bill by Friday, they would move to pass another stop-gap funding bill to avert a shutdown and allow more time to reach a border deal.

 

(Reporting by Richard Cowan, Doina Chiacu, Howard Schneider; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-02-11

 

[Samui Bodoh]

"...While a growing number of Republicans in Congress have made it clear they would not embrace another shutdown, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said he could not rule it out..."

 

Another shutdown? Another failed negotiation?

 

I thought that Trump claimed to be a great deal-maker, but to date I have not seen any evidence of that.

 

I would say "go ahead, shut it down", although with sadness for the government workers who would suffer the consequences. I say "go ahead' as history shows that the Republicans in general and Trump in particular would be the ones who pay a political price for it, and anything that weakens/hurts the Republicans and/or Trump is a good thing in my book. Simply put, Trump and the enabling Republicans have already done terrible damage to the US and the sooner that they get tossed out, the better the US and the rest of the world will be.

 

I have said it before and (sadly) need to say it again;

 

Donald Trump is an ever-expanding cloud of toxic waste that defiles everything it touches.

 

God help us all.

 

[Aussie999]

Quote, from the Statue of Liberty,  “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free". Seems the USA is a much different country.

[mtls2005]

At least they're negotiating.

 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

He said the impasse was over Democrats' desire to cap the number of beds in detention facilities for people who enter the country illegally.

 

I understand this position but I wouldn't nix a deal over this point. (understanding that this is just Sen. Shelby's perspective on the negotiations)

[Skeptic7]

1 hour ago, Aussie999 said:

Quote, from the Statue of Liberty,  “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free". Seems the USA is a much different country.

Yeah...so is every other country. It's a different world. Things change. Deal with it. 

[samran]

And mexico is paying for it, as promised?

[mtls2005]

1 hour ago, Aussie999 said:

Quote, from the Statue of Liberty,  “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free". Seems the USA is a much different country.

 

Stephen Miller has added "...from Norway" to the famous line from The New Colossus.

 

Brown people use the back door, please.

 

 

[Srikcir]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

By having the interior cap, ICE agents would be forced to focus on arresting and deporting serious criminals, not law-abiding immigrants, a House Democratic aide said on Sunday.

 

Republicans balked at the Democrats' sub-cap offer

So why don't the Republicans counter offer with more money to build more detention centers and associated administration to compensate for less beds at current centers?

But perhaps admitting more migrants into the US for legal processing might ultimately lead to more Democratic voters. That would be a redline for Trump.

[Lacessit]

The Democrats have Trump by the nuts, and they know it. Why would they let go?

[mtls2005]

7 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

The Democrats have Trump by the nuts, and they know it. Why would they let go?

 

To avoid catching STDs?

 

Yikes, that's an image that will be difficult to un-imagine.

 

 

[sammieuk1]

All in all its just a prick and a wall get the builders off to Ireland another wall will be needed while their waiting ????

[goferman]

4 hours ago, Aussie999 said:

Quote, from the Statue of Liberty,  “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free". Seems the USA is a much different country.

 

[pedro01]

1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

The Democrats have Trump by the nuts, and they know it. Why would they let go?

 

Because their job is to do what benefits the people.

[Thailand]

He needs a deal before he goes off to meet the bestestest buddy rocket man.

[guest879]

nancy and chuck will never give in let alone actually negotiate, no matter what trump offers them. no matter how good a negotiator someone is it still takes both sides to actually negotiate. trump might as well use army engineers and funds to get the job done. pull them out of Syria and put them to work doing something productive.

[Tug]

Donald is not a negotiator he is a bulley no more than that all he knows is my way or else nothing more his wealth and privilege has let him get away with it all his life he needs to be removed asap

[farcanell]

All it would take to settle this is if people that aren’t getting paid, don’t turn up to work.... or better, turn up and sit in the smoko room.

[ReMarKable]

5 hours ago, Tug said:

Donald is not a negotiator he is a bulley no more than that all he knows is my way or else nothing more his wealth and privilege has let him get away with it all his life he needs to be removed asap

One does wonder; is his behavior common for spoiled billionaires or is he a gangsta?