White House eases $5 billion demand for wall

WASHINGTON—The White House signaled on Tuesday it might be willing to compromise on border wall funding to avoid partially shutting down the government Friday at midnight. President Donald Trump previously demanded $5 billion in the federal budget for the wall, his signature campaign promise. Democrats offered only $1.3 billion or at most $1.6 billion for border security. Republicans in Congress proposed stopgap budget bills but largely indicated it was up to the president to cut a deal with Democrats.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Fox News on Tuesday that the administration has a “number of different funding sources” it could couple with money from Congress to secure the $5 billion Trump desired. Her remarks were the first indication that the president might be willing to negotiate the wall funding level with Democratic leaders to pass the spending bill. “At the end of the day, we don’t want to shut down the government, we want to shut down the border from illegal immigration,” Sanders said.