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 that would stave off a government shutdown while lawmakers continue negotiating guardrails to rein in immigration agents, though he acknowledged a shutdown could still occur.
“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 briefly shut down over the weekend.
The deal would separate the debate over aggressive immigration tactics from a broad funding package that Congress must 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 quickly and avert a partial government shutdown on Saturday.
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.
(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 and Cynthia Osterman)
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