President Trump appears ready to sign on to the budget deal congressional Republicans negotiated, but he apparently feels he could have done a far better job.
CNN reports that Trump has privately been complaining that Republicans' work negotiating this deal to prevent another shutdown has been "inadequate," and he's annoyed that he wasn't asked to participate in the the process. Trump has reportedly "wondered why he, an experienced dealmaker, wasn't consulted at more regular intervals," writes CNN.
But Trump being left "largely on the sidelines" has everything to do with lawmakers seeing his previous negotiating efforts as having "proved futile," the report says.
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Indeed, Trump didn't have much luck getting a deal with Democrats off the ground during the partial government shutdown, as evidenced by a meeting that ended with Trump storming out of the room almost immediately.
The deal Trump is preparing to sign includes $1.3 billion for border fencing, but not the $5.7 billion for a wall that he has spent months demanding. Getting that $5.7 billion was the whole purpose of the 35-day government shutdown, but now, Trump is ending up with even less money than was on the table at one point last year. Trump has suggested he will still fund the wall without Congress' help using executive action.
But Trump still hasn't officially confirmed he will sign the new deal, and seeing as he previously triggered a government shutdown in December after deciding at the last minute not to sign a stopgap spending bill, there's always the chance he'll change his mind before the deadline on Friday.
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