'We'll Be Building the Wall Anyway': Trump Says GOP-Dems Budget Deal Not Matters

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the border wall between the United States and Mexico would be built anyway, no matter what kind of agreement on border security funding US Republican and Democratic congressmen reach.

"We'll be building the wall anyway. They [congressmen] say that progress has been made […] I said: 'Wait a minute, I gotta take care of my people from Texas, I've got to go, I don't even wanna hear about it.' So I don't know what they mean [when they say] 'progress has been made", Trump said in an address for his supporters in El Paso, Texas, Fox news reported.

Earlier in the day, US Senator Richard Shelby said that the lawmakers had reached an agreement on border security that would avert another government shutdown after the one that ended recently and was initially triggered by a dispute between Trump and congressional Democrats over funding for building a wall on the US border with Mexico.

READ MORE: Trump's Border Wall: 'Unlikely the Democrats Are Going to Give In' — Scholar

While Trump initially asked the Congress to authorize $5.7 billion to build the border wall, the lawmakers reportedly agreed to allocate around $1.4 billion.

Trump has repeatedly claimed to declare a national emergency to address what he calls a crisis over crimes caused by immigrant gangs, such as drug smuggling and human trafficking. An emergency would reportedly allow Trump to order the military to build a wall with funds diverted from elsewhere in the federal government.

However, a group of Democrats in the United States Senate has introduced a bill called the RAIDER act designed to prevent Donald Trump from accessing emergency funds to build a much-anticipated wall along the US border with Mexico.

READ MORE: Damn Lies and Statistics: Trump’s Inaccuracies About His Border Wall — Report

In particular, the legislation would "prohibit the use of amounts appropriated for military construction or the army Corps of Engineers for the construction of barriers, land acquisition, or any other associated activities on the southern border without specific statutory authorization from Congress".

Democratic leaders in the US Congress have repeatedly slammed the wall proposal as immoral while claiming there is no crisis.

After a record-long shutdown, which started in December, US lawmakers and Trump temporarily re-opened the federal government for a three-week period until 15 February to negotiate a deal on border security. Failure to reach a compromise by Friday could reportedly trigger another government stalemate.

READ MORE: White House: Trump to Move Forward Building US-Mexican Border Wall in 21 Days