Details of the legislation remain in the dark, but House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said he expects to bring the legislation up for a vote on Tuesday, likely grouped into at least two packages. Democrats added they have received assurances that Trump will sign the bills once they pass, averting a shutdown after the December 20 funding deadline.
“We had a very good meeting, and there’s a meeting of the minds, and we’re going to look through some of the details, but I feel confident that we’re going to have a product very shortly,” House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey said Thursday after days of negotiations.
Lawmakers said the White House stood aside from the final round of negotiations, with only Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin being involved in meetings.
Committee staffers are expected to work through the weekend to finalize language and smaller issues ahead of the likely Tuesday vote, while the details of the agreement will be revealed on Monday, according to the Hill.
There were some indications that Democrats gave ground on the wall, moving from the zero-funding position they took in their original version of the bill. In the past two years, Democrats agreed to $1.5 billion and $1.375 billion in funds for upgrading existing physical barriers and erecting some new ones in consensus areas of the Rio Grande Valley. The disagreement over the border protection funding resulted in a last-minute reversal on wall funding from Trump last year and a 35-day shutdown starting in late December — the longest shutdown in the nation's history.
