Now we see what the “deal” was.
They had no intention of funding the wall but only as leverage in conference committee.
Look for the GOP-e Senate to roll over dead again.
“They had no intention of funding the wall”
It is like professional wrestling - they only pretend to hurt each other.
The direct appropriation for wall building (through DHS) is the same as last year, around $1.4 billion.
But the NDAA (Defense budget) has already passed the House, with no restriction on the President doing again, what he did in 2019 - take billions from the Defense budget to build more wall.
So while the Dems need the political cover of being able to say that they gutted the President’s wall funding request (from the 5 he requested, down to the 1.4 in the baseline budget), the reality is that the details will allow him to actually spend billions more in 2020.
It is a very serious wall building effort, that will roughly/nearly finish contracting for all the barrier identified as needed in the comprehensive plan that DHS prepared in response to President Trump’s early (25 January 2017) Executive order (13767) to build the wall, and achieve full operational control of the Southern Border.
It is actually a strategic success in getting the wall built. That is why the Dems need an agreement to downplay the significance, while the votes go through. It is just a fig leaf offered, to get the votes through.