Uncertainty hangs on as U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he is not happy with a bipartisan deal reached in principle by lawmakers in a bid to avert a government shutdown.
"I can't say I'm happy. I can't say I'm thrilled," Trump told reporters in the White House about the deal.
However, the president did not say whether he would sign or veto the deal, noting that he would hold a meeting to discuss it later.
"We certainly don't want to see a shutdown", Trump said, adding that "everything" is on the table and he needs to look further into the details of the deal struck on Monday night on spending and border security.
Earlier on Tuesday, White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley said that it was not sure whether Trump would give the greenlight to the deal.
"We're not sure yet, to be quite honest," Gidley told Fox News during an interview. "It's not consistent with what we're hearing coming out of the conference committee ...So until we actually see it, it is very difficult to comment on it."
"The White House has been consulted all along," Republican Senator Richard Shelby, chair of Senate Appropriations Committee, said Monday night when announcing "an agreement in principle" was reached to avert the shutdown, failing to reveal the details.
Local media, quoting congressional sources, said Tuesday that the bill would include 1.375 billion U.S. dollars for physical barriers along the U.S. -Mexico border. Trump had previously demanded 5.7 billion dollars in funding for a border wall, which is his signature campaign promise.
As for another major disagreement over the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention beds for detained undocumented immigrants, a CNN report said Tuesday that negotiators from both parties might agree to a level of 40,520.
Democratic lawmakers tried to cap overall ICE detention beds to 35,520, while the White House and Republicans sought a hike to 52,000.
"No one got everything they wanted" during the weeks of bipartisan negotiations, said a top Democratic negotiator Nita Lowey on Tuesday, calling the deal a "compromise."
The House appropriations chairwoman said that under the current tentative deal, the 1.375-billion-dollar funding is for a barrier instead of a wall along some parts of the U.S.-Mexico border.
"This is not a wall. This is a barrier," she said. "These are fences. I think 1.375 billion dollars is a good number."
Speaking on Monday night in El Paso, Texas, which sits directly across the Rio Grande from Mexico, Trump said he would build the border wall regardless of whether Congress approves funding for it.
"Just so you know, we're building the wall anyway," Trump told the crowd. "I will never sign a bill that forces the mass release of violent criminals into our country. And I will never abolish or in any way mistreat our great heroes from ICE and Border Patrol and law enforcement."
Democrats have rejected the idea of a border wall, calling it Trump's "political theater" to fire up his base, while they prefer the use of technology like drones and sensors in strengthening border security. Trump argued it is essential to beefing up border security and curbing crime.
The confrontation over border wall funds had caused a record-breaking 35-day partial shutdown of the federal government, which ended in late January when Trump agreed to fund the government for three weeks to allow for negotiations.
The temporary funding bill runs out on Friday. Both the House and Senate will have to approve the legislation and Trump must sign it so as to avoid another government shutdown.
