Trump, Democrats say deal reached to avert shutdown; immigration talks to continue

By Richard Cowan, David Morgan, Nolan D. McCaskill and Bo Erickson

WASHINGTON, Jan 29 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Thursday endorsed a spending deal negotiated by U.S. Senate Republicans and Democrats to avoid a government shutdown, although he acknowledged one could still occur, while lawmakers continued negotiating guardrails to rein in immigration agents.

“It could happen,” Trump told reporters. “I don’t know.”

It was unclear whether the House of Representatives would embrace the deal or when it would take up the measure.

House Speaker Mike Johnson earlier on Thursday indicated it could be difficult to get members, who are on a scheduled break, back to Washington before the chamber is regularly due to resume on Monday.

That means swaths of the federal government could shut down at least over the weekend. Current funding for a large part of the federal government expires at midnight on Friday.

The Senate abandoned hopes of passing the legislation late on Thursday and will resume its work on Friday.

The deal would separate the debate over aggressive immigration tactics from a broad funding package that lawmakers wanted to pass before midnight Friday to ensure that agencies such as the Pentagon and the Department of Health and Human Services can operate without interruption.

“Hopefully, both Republicans and Democrats will give a very much needed Bipartisan ‘YES’ Vote,” Trump wrote in a social media post.

Senate Democrats, angered by the shooting of a second U.S. citizen by immigration agents in Minneapolis last weekend, had threatened to hold up the funding package, in an effort to force Trump to rein in the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees federal immigration enforcement.

The agreement would strip out DHS from the funding bill, allowing Congress to pass the overall package of bills promptly. 

DHS funding would be extended for two weeks, giving negotiators time to reach an agreement on immigration tactics.

Senate Democrats have demanded new restrictions on federal immigration agents, including an end to roving patrols, a ban on face masks and a requirement to wear body cameras.

The shooting death of nurse Alex Pretti by federal agents on Saturday spurred widespread public outrage, prompting the Trump administration to de-escalate operations in the region. Pretti’s death was the second this month of a U.S. citizen with no criminal record involving immigration law enforcement agents. 

(Reporting by Richard Cowan, David Morgan, Nolan McCaskill, Bo Erickson, Katharine Jackson and Susan Heavey in Washington and Ananya Palyekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Andy Sullivan, Ross Colvin, Alistair Bell, Edmund Klamann, Cynthia Osterman and Michael Perry)