Trump administration demands $4.5 billion in emergency aid: 'The border is at its breaking point'

Having won a border deal with Mexico, the Trump administration turned its attention to a slow-moving Congress on Tuesday, demanding that lawmakers immediately approve a $4.5 billion emergency assistance package to care for the children and families surging at the border.

Senate Republicans said they will speed a bill through committee next week and dared Democrats to deny the border crisis and vote against the legislation.

President Trump requested the money six weeks ago, but it has been stuck in a legislative stalemate as Democrats first disputed the nature of the border crisis and then balked at the scope of the president’s requests.

Some daylight poked through Tuesday as Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said there is a chance for a deal — though the president won’t get all the money he wants.

“The humanitarian aid is a sweet spot,” he said, referring to $3.3 billion in money slated to go to the Health and Human Services Department, which is about to run out of money to house and care for unaccompanied migrant children.