Democrats who oppose President Trump’s border wall say they might be able to agree to spend $1.6 billion on new fencing along a pedestrian walkway in the Rio Grande Valley.
“I’d be willing to listen and see what those senators have to say,” said Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, about the idea of the fence. He is one of nine Democrats appointed to a committee tasked with coming up with a border security deal by Feb. 15.
Cuellar added, “I’ve been very clear that I don’t like the wall.”
Trump wants a wall, but there may be a legislative vehicle in Congress for a compromise that involves a fence.
The Senate Appropriations Committee last summer passed a Homeland Security funding bill that included $1.6 billion for 65 miles of pedestrian fencing in the Rio Grande Valley. It falls far short of the $5.7 billion Trump is seeking and would not allow construction of the steel-slat barrier he has recently touted as the best approach to stopping illegal immigration in targeted areas.
But the fencing would represent construction of a new barrier along the border, and it already won the backing of 10 Appropriations Committee Democrats in the Senate once before.
Among them was Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who is one of the negotiators and who still supports the money for the fencing. “Whether that’s where we end up at I have no idea,” Tester told the Washington Examiner.
Democrats on the 17-member panel said they do not outright reject the idea of new fencing, as long as it doesn’t constitute a concrete border wall and does not carry the $5.7 billion price tag Trump has demanded, which they say is far too much money.
[Read more: Lawmakers meet Wednesday to start working on border security deal]
Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, told the Washington Examiner Monday she won’t endorse the wall Trump envisioned but she isn’t ruling out the Senate proposal.
“We’ve all voted for some kind of fencing or barrier in the past,” Roybal-Allard said. “I don’t think that’s really the question. It’s more the whole issue of does he still want that concrete wall he keeps talking about?”
The Homeland Secuirty bill is linked to six other measures that together fund nine departments and dozens of agencies, so finding an accord by the deadline is critical. The group is desperate to find a compromise that can pass both chambers in order to avoid a threat of a second partial government shutdown after a 35-day closure just ended.
Trump has warned he is willing to veto the measure if it doesn’t include border wall funding and is so far sticking to the $5.7 billion demand. Some lawmakers say he’ll ultimately need to try to circumvent Congress by declaring a national emergency and allocating the level of funding he seeks.
The House and Senate negotiators will hold their first meeting Wednesday.
Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R- W.Va., who chairs the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, said the Senate bipartisan agreement on the fence could lead to a wider deal.
“I certainly think, for the base bill, it’s a good place to start,” Capito told the Washington Examiner. “The figure there, in my view, it’s a good starting point, because it’s already been agreed upon by a lot of bipartisan lawmakers.”
But Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., who is among the negotiators, said the $1.6 billion in fencing hasn’t won everyone over.
“I thought it was a good place to start,” Shelby said. “Some of the Democrats thought it was too much later on, and the president didn’t think it was enough.”
