WASHINGTON (AP) Congress is set to resolve its clattering brawl with President Donald Trump in uncommonly bipartisan fashion as lawmakers prepare to pass a border security compromise providing a mere sliver of the billions hes demanded for a wall with Mexico and averting a rekindled government shutdown this weekend.
With Trumps halfhearted signature widely expected but hardly guaranteed, congressional leaders planned votes today on the sweeping package. Passage first by the Republican-led Senate, then the Democratic-controlled House, was virtually certain, with sizable numbers of both parties members set to vote yes. Bargainers formally completed the accord moments before midnight Wednesday.
Im sure its going to pass. I dont know of any drama, said House Democrats chief vote-counter, Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C.
Trumps assent would end a raucous legislative saga that commenced before Christmas and was ending, almost fittingly, on Valentines Day. The low point was the historically long 35-day partial federal shutdown, which Trump sparked and was in full force when Democrats took control of the House, compelling him to share power for the first time.
Trump yielded Jan. 25 after public opinion turned against him and congressional Republicans. Hed won not a nickel of the $5.7 billion hed demanded for his wall but had caused missed paychecks for legions of federal workers and federal contractors and lost services for countless others. It was a political fiasco for Trump and an early triumph for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
The fight left both parties dead set against another shutdown. That sentiment weakened Trumps hand and fueled the bipartisan deal, a pact that contrasts with the parties still-raging differences over health care, taxes and investigations of the president.
The product of nearly three weeks of talks, the agreement provides almost $1.4 billion for new barriers along the boundary. Thats less than the $1.6 billion for border security in a bipartisan Senate bill that Trump spurned months ago, and enough for building just 55 miles of barricades, not the 200-plus miles hed sought.
Notably, the word wall which fueled many a chant at Trump campaign events and rallies as president does not appear once in the 1,768 pages of legislation and explanatory materials. Barriers and fencing are the nouns of choice.
The compromise would also gradually pressure Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to gradually detain fewer unauthorized immigrants. To the dismay of Democrats, it would still leave an agency many of them consider abusive holding thousands more immigrants than it did last year.
The measure contains money for improved surveillance equipment, more customs agents and humanitarian aid for detained immigrants. The overall bill also provides $330 billion to finance dozens of federal agencies for the rest of the year.
Trump has talked for weeks about augmenting the agreement by taking executive action to divert money from other programs for wall construction, without congressional sign-off. He might declare a national emergency, which has drawn opposition from both parties, or invoke other authorities to tap funds targeted for military construction, disaster relief and counterdrug efforts.
Those moves could prompt congressional resistance or lawsuits, but would help assuage supporters dismayed that the president is yielding.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who leads the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, told reporters it would be political suicide if Trump signs the agreement and did nothing else to find added money.
The measure was expected to be carried by pragmatists from both parties. Many of Congress most liberal members were expected to oppose it, unwilling to yield an inch to Trumps anti-immigrant policies, while staunch conservatives preferred a bill that would go further.
I made a promise to my community that I wouldnt fund ICE, said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., a freshman whos become a face of her partys left wing and a leading proponent of eliminating the agency.
Though Trump lost the highest-profile issue at stake, he all but declared victory Wednesday.
