US bipartisan deal reached on funding for southern wall

Congressional Democratic and Republican negotiators overcame a long stalemate over the funding for a southern wall demanded by President Donald Trump and reached a deal Monday night that provided partial financing for the wall. It also averted another government shutdown which he threatened if a deal was not reached by Feb. 15. “We reached an agreement in principle,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., appearing with a bipartisan group of House and Senate lawmakers who concurred. The White House demand for $5.7bn to be earmarked in the budge for completing 215 miles of wall was pared down under the deal to nearly $1.4 bn covering 55 miles of new fencing to be built in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.