US lawmakers agree on budget deal 'in principle'

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - House and Senate negotiators announced Monday night they have agreed "in principle" to a deal to avoid another partial government shutdown.

The top four congressional appropriators -- Sens. Richard Shelby and Patrick Leahy and Reps. Nita Lowey and Kay Granger -- announced the agreement following a rapid succession of talks ahead of Friday's deadline to ensure that many government agencies can continue to operate.

"We’ve had a good evening. We’ve reached an agreement in principle between us on the Homeland Security and the other six bills," Shelby told reporters.

Details on the agreement have yet to be officially released, but reports have pegged the funding the bill will include for President Donald Trump's U.S.-Mexico border wall at $1.375 billion. That falls far short of the $5.7 billion he had been seeking for the barrier and is highly likely to draw his ire if confirmed.

Democrats appeared to have dropped their demand to cap the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention beds in a bid to restrict the number of people who can be detained at ICE facilities at a time. But it is unclear how many beds, in total, the lawmakers agreed to fund.

The breakneck negotiations follow the longest shutdown in U.S. history as Trump continues to insist that Congress provide him the funds he wants to build the separation barrier.