Negotiators poised to meet for shutdown talks

Key negotiators seeking to avoid a new partial government shutdown are poised to meet at 3:30 p.m. Monday after talks derailed over the weekend.

A Senate aide confirmed that Sens. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Reps. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) and Kay Granger (R-Texas) will meet on Monday afternoon to try to break the stalemate.

{mosads}The meeting comes days ahead of Congress’s Feb. 15 deadline to clinch a deal on President Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall and funding for roughly a quarter of the federal government, including the Department of Homeland Security.

If they can’t get a larger agreement by then, Congress would need to pass a continuing resolution to punt the border fight and prevent a second lapse in funding in as many months.

Lawmakers left Washington late last week relatively optimistic they would be able to get a deal by Friday, the date established by a three-week stopgap measure that Trump signed into law last month, ending the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

But talks remain stuck on two key issues: the amount of physical barrier funding and the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention beds to be funded.

Shelby, speaking Sunday, acknowledged that talks were stalemated and put the chances of getting a deal at 50-50.

“We’re hoping we can get there. But we’ve got to get fluid again. We’ve got to start movement,” Shelby said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Without specifically mentioning Democrats, Shelby released a letter on Monday from sheriffs groups warning against capping the number of ICE detention beds.

Democrats acknowledged on Sunday that they had proposed a cap on the number of ICE detention beds, arguing it would force the Trump administration to focus on “serious criminals” and was in line with numbers from the Obama administration.

“The Trump Admin has been tearing communities apart with its cruel immigration policies. A cap on ICE detention beds will force the Trump Admin to prioritize deportation for criminals and people posing real security threats, not law-abiding immigrants contributing to our country,” Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.) said in a tweet.