Lawmakers meet Wednesday to start working on border security deal
by Susan Ferrechio
| January 28, 2019 01:59 PM
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A bipartisan group of House and Senate negotiators will meet Wednesday to begin hammering out a deal on border security ahead of a Feb. 15 deadline.
The group of 17 lawmakers is tasked with coming up with a House-Senate agreement on Homeland Security spending for fiscal year 2019.
The conference committee was created as part of a deal to reopen the government after a 35-day partial shutdown that resulted from a partisan fight over border wall funding. President Trump has pushed the committee to accept some new spending on a border wall, but it's not clear it'll be able to reach any agreement.
Democrats oppose money for a border wall and Republicans will try to win some funding to appease Trump, who has threatened to withhold his signature on spending legislation when the current authorization expires on Feb. 15.
Senate negotiators include Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the top two lawmakers on the Senate Appropriations Committee. The House side is being led by the leaders of the House Appropriations Committee, Reps. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., and Kay Granger, R-Texas.
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