US President Donald Trump has expressed willingness to accept a “reasonable” shutdown deal between Republican and Democratic leaders as two competing bills to reopen the government fail to pass the Senate.
“If they come to a reasonable agreement, I would support it, yes,” Trump told White House reporters Thursday but kept mum on specifics.
Trump had repeatedly suggested that he would not reopen the government unless his demand for funding a wall on the US-Mexico border is met.
The failed Senate measures came as lawmakers continued to end a month-long stalemate over Democrats’ refusal to include in the 2019 budget $5.7 billion that Trump has requested to build his controversial border wall.
One of the bills, which was also backed by Trump, included the funding for the wall and the other, supported by Democrats, was aimed at reopening shuttered federal agencies without such funding. However, none of them could get the votes to…