BORDER/CONGRESS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WALL: “President Donald Trump’s planned ‘great, great wall’ began morphing into a physical barrier and an array of high-tech gadgets in congressional talks launched on Wednesday to forge a compromise on security at the U.S. border with Mexico. Although there were no guarantees a deal could be reached by a Feb. 15 deadline, lawmakers on both sides showed a willingness to avoid ultimatums and seek common ground. Some negotiators from Trump’s Republican Party avoided uttering the word ‘wall’ during the 17-member border security panel’s first session on Wednesday [1-30-19]. They spoke of a mix of enforcement tools, as Democrats had urged. The long, contentious debate over one of Trump’s biggest 2016 campaign promises – a concrete border wall financed by Mexico – entered a new stage with the committee’s launch last week ending a 35-day partial closure of the government.”
–Reuters, “Beyond Trump’s Wall: Congress Tackles Border Security,” The New York Times online, January 30, 2019