WASHINGTON: With little time to craft a deal over funding security operations on the US-Mexico border, a bipartisan group of lawmakers was to meet in a public work-session on Wednesday even as President Donald Trump maintained a hard line on constructing a massive wall Trump has threatened a resumption of the record-long shutdown if the panel fails to find common ground or produces a plan he does not like.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Trump warned: “If the committee of Republicans and Democrats now meeting on Border Security is not discussing or contemplating a Wall or Physical Barrier, they are Wasting their time!” Physical barriers have long been installed on parts of the border to keep out illegal drugs and undocumented immigrants and more are underway. It was unclear whether Trump, who views the current arrangement as insufficient, would accept a simple continuation of such installations
