Republicans remove Mexico border wall from budget negotiation

Republican lawmakers removed the funds allocated for the Mexico border wall from their budget, given that the Democrats were unwilling to agree to back the budget with it and after President Donald Trump softened his stance on the matter.

The President on Tuesday seems to be open to withdrawing the $1.4 billion he had demanded for the barrier be included in the federal budget, which must be approved before Friday if a partial government shutdown is to be avoided, Efe news reported.

After Trump went public with his budget proposal last month, in which he included his request for funding to start construction of the wall, Democrats warned Trump that they would block any budget bill that included it.

The Democrats' unwillingness to compromise on the issue seems to have been effective in terms of obtaining their initial objective.

The conservative leadership in the Upper House on Tuesday presented a new proposal with the wall construction funds out of the equation, although it includes funding for strengthening security along the US-Mexico frontier, Senate officials said.

On Monday evening, Trump softened his stance on his demand for immediate funding for wall construction, saying during a meeting with a group of conservative media outlets that he could wait until autumn for the funds and include them in the budget for FY 2018, which will be negotiated at that time.

However, after signing some executive orders on agriculture Trump repeated that the US "desperately" needs the wall, adding that it will be build "soon".

--IANS

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