US lawmakers reach deal to avert shutdown

Democratic and Republican leaders have reached a deal to avoid a government shutdown when funding under a stopgap agreement expires at midnight on Friday.

The proposal, announced late on Monday, would require the signature of Donald Trump to avert a new shutdown.

The agreement contains only a fraction of the money President Donald Trump wants for his promised border wall and does not mention a concrete barrier.

The agreement would allocate far less money for Trump’s border wall than the White House’s $5.7bn wish list, settling for a figure of nearly $1.4bn, according to congressional aides. The funding measure is through the fiscal year, which ends 30 September.

The agreement means the construction of 55 miles of new fencing – built through existing designs such as metal slats instead of a concrete wall – but far less than the 215 miles the White House demanded in December. The fencing would be built in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

At a rally in El Paso, Texas, on Monday, Trump said he had been informed about the committee’s progress. “Just so you know, we’re building the wall anyway”, he added.

Lawmakers expressed optimism that a bill would be approved by Friday when funding runs out for some federal agencies.

The previous shutdown - the longest in US history - lasted 35 days and cost the country's economy an estimated $11bn (£8.5bn).

Trump and congressional Democrats agreed on 25 January to temporarily fund the departments and negotiate a funding solution by 8 February.

Democrats have opposed funding for a border wall, saying that pressure from undocumented immigrants is a made-up emergency and that money for border security would be better dedicated to additional technology, personnel, and other enforcement measures.

The negotiators at work in Washington on Monday included four Democrats and four Republicans. They are a cut-out of a larger group of 17 members of Congress assigned to seek a deal after the historic shutdown ended on 25 January.

Congressional sources said that one sticking point in negotiations was the Republicans’ refusal to accept a cap on the number of undocumented immigrants who might be held in detention centers run by the Immigration and Naturalization Services.

Democrats say that an absence of such a cap, pegged at 16,500 detainees, could be exploited by the Trump administration to round up an indefinite number of detainees.