The Latest: Senate Democrats will support GOP spending bill
By Associated Press
Dec 19, 2018 10:23 AM CST
FILE - In this March 23, 2018 file photo, Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway speaks during a media interview in the White House Press Brady Press Briefing Room in Washington. Asked if the president would back legislation in the works that would keep government funded, likely into February,...   (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the fight over funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall and a potential partial government shutdown (all times local):

11:20 a.m.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer says it's good news that President Donald Trump has apparently retreated from his demand that Congress pay for a border wall with Mexico.

Schumer said Wednesday that Democrats prefer to find a way to fund all government agencies through Sept. 30, but will support a plan by Senate Republicans for a stopgap measure to continue funding the government until Feb. 8. The plan averts a partial shutdown that could begin at midnight Friday.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the Senate will vote on the bill Wednesday. He calls it "a simple measure" to show Republicans are governing.

Schumer called shutting down the government over Christmas "a terrible idea, one of the worst to come down the pike in a very long time."

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10:15 a.m.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he'll be introducing a stopgap measure to continue funding the government until Feb. 8 to avert a government shutdown.

McConnell says the Senate will vote on the bill Wednesday. He calls it "a simple measure" to show that Republicans are governing.

Congress faces a Friday deadline to fund a portion of the government or risk a partial shutdown. Lawmakers have been at a standstill over President Donald Trump's demands for $5 billion to fund the border wall.

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8:35 a.m.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway says President Donald Trump may consider a short-term funding deal to keep the government open.

Conway was asked on Wednesday if Trump would back legislation in the works that would keep the government funded, likely into February, and said the president will "take a look at that certainly."

Conway argues Trump is not softening on his promise to secure the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump appeared to back off his demand for $5 billion to fund a border wall on Tuesday after days of impasse with Congress. Without agreement, a partial government shutdown would happen Friday at midnight.

The White House has said it's looking at other avenues to fund the wall.

Trump tweeted Wednesday: "One way or the other, we will win on the Wall!"

Democrats earlier proposed keeping funding at $1.3 billion for border security fencing and other improvements, but not for the wall.

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12:10 a.m.

Days of impasse over funding for a southern border wall appears to have ended with President Donald Trump signaling he's open to a deal to avoid a partial government shutdown.

The president's press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said Tuesday that Trump would consider other options than demanding $5 billion for the border wall.

A proposal in the works in the Senate would keep the government funded past a midnight Friday deadline and into the early weeks of 2019. A person familiar with negotiations tells The Associated Press that the White House would prefer a longer-term package.

If no bill is passed by Congress and signed by the president ahead of the deadline, more than 800,000 government workers would be furloughed or sent to work without pay just days before Christmas.

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