Congressional negotiators have reached what they are calling "an agreement in principle" to avoid a second partial government shutdown set to begin on Saturday.
“We’ve had a good evening. We’ve reached an agreement in principle between us on the Homeland Security and the other six bills,” Sen. Richard Shelby said.
The breakthrough came after the core four negotiators met three times on Monday night in a last-ditch effort to get a deal after talks appeared to unravel over the weekend with only days to prevent a partial government shutdown.
"We worked it out in principle. We think it's going to work," the Hill cited Shelby as saying.
Shelby said the agreement includes funding for physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, but declined to say how much is included in agreement or whether it's more than the $1.6 billion included in the Senate's initial Homeland Security bill.
Though negotiators reached the agreement "in principle" on Monday night, there could still be political landmines they will need to navigate around before Trump signs the agreement, including potential rifts in both parties.
