President Trump has hinted that he will most likely sign the border-security deal since he doesn’t want another government shutdown on Friday. Two close sources to Trump confirmed that he will sign the agreement although he isn’t happy with the deal, CNN reported. The House (majority Democrats) and Senate (majority Republicans) presented Trump with an agreement of $1.375 billion, which is far less than the $5.7 billion that Trump originally requested.
According to New York Times, $1.375 billion would be used for new fencing along the border with Mexico but Trump was aiming for more funding because he wanted the border to be made of concrete or steel.
The deadline for him to decide if he wants to go forward with the deal is midnight by Friday.
Trump is thinking about getting more funding elsewhere
Many of the Republicans from the Senate suggested that Trump accept the agreement and look at it as a down payment, although he isn’t too happy about the budget. Trump talked about how he wants to take away funding from less important areas so he can add more money to the border wall. He hinted that he would find other ways to fund the wall from different sources so he could avoid another shutdown since he made it clear that he does not want that to happen again.
CNN mentioned a few more options he can choose to seek more funding for the border wall.
Several of those options include the Army Corps civil works funds, military constructions funds, and Treasury forfeiture funds.
Government shutdown in 2018
The United States had the longest government shutdown in American history, ending after 35 days. Previously, hundreds and thousands of federal employees were forced to work unpaid and miss more than three pay periods of paychecks because of the shutdown that happened on December 22nd.
Many employees had to call out because they didn’t have enough money for gas or transportation. Food assistance programs were going through a great deal of shortage because thousands of families had a high demand for food. This was due to them being unable to support themselves. Mental health issues arose due to the stress of the shutdown.
Trump has a big decision to make in little time.The House and Senate are hoping that he will sign the border-security deal although he didn’t get the funding he wanted. If he does not sign the deal before Friday, federal workers will be affected again. More families will suffer and poverty will increase.
