Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., says that legislators in Congress must reach an agreement by the end of next week if they want to avoid another government shutdown.
Tester, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Homeland Security subcommittee, is one of seven lawmakers tasked with drafting a bill that can be agreed on by Congress and President Donald Trump.
“If we don’t have something signed by a week from tomorrow, I think we have big problems,” Tester told the Billings Gazette Thursday.
“I’ve told everybody because I really believe this, I think we’re going to get an agreement. What’s going to be in that agreement, right now I can’t tell you, because we just started negotiations today. And even if I did know, I’m not sure I would tell you because I don’t want to negotiate this thing out in the papers.”
Trump told reporters on Thursday that he will not agree to a deal that does not include money for a border wall.
“No. Because if there’s no wall, it doesn’t work,” the president said when asked in the Oval Office, according to The Hill.
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