US President Donald Trump and the country’s congressional leaders have reached a tentative deal to end the longest government shutdown in American history, The Washington Post reports.
According to The Washington Post, citing congressional sources, the agreement will end the partial government shutdown without Congress granting Trump the funds for his much-championed border wall. As the outlet specified, the issue will be revisited down the line.
US President Donald Trump is expected to make an official announcement on the issue later in the day.
US Partial Government Shutdown
The longest shutdown in US history, which has started on 22 December, was connected with a standoff between Trump and the Democrats over the president’s request for funds to maintain southern border security. The partial shutdown left about 800,000 civil servants without pay.
Trump requested Congress approve $5.7 billion in funding to deal with the crisis on the US-Mexico border, including the construction building a border wall, but Democrats refuse to provide funds for any physical barrier.
The US president has previously reportedly hinted that he might declare a national emergency in order to secure funds to build a wall along the border with Mexico. However, later he stated that he would prefer to reach a deal with Congress.
As CNN reported, citing an official, the administration could pull around $7 billion in total for the building of a border wall and solve the southern border crisis: $681 million from Treasury forfeiture funds, $3.6 billion in military construction, $3 billion in Pentagon civil works funds, and $200 million in Department of Homeland Security funds.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
