Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said Sunday a bipartisan group negotiating a deal on border security to avoid a second partial government shutdown doesn’t include any “bomb throwers” — though he concedes the talks may still wind up being “a train wreck.”
In remarks on “Fox News Sunday,” Tester said “We just need to do our job and we can do it” — including ironing out differences over the number of detention beds allowed, an issue that has been criticized as attempting to limit Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s ability to detain illegal immigrants.
“The bottom line is we cut people who aren't bomb throwers and people who know how to work together and get a deal,” he said. “I'm not positive we will end up with a deal but with this group of people and the folks from the House I think we are going to end up with something that deals with detention beds, with barriers, with technology, with the challenges we have on the southern border in a common sense way.”
Tester said all negotiations “hit bumps in the road.”
“There are bumps on the road but as long as we stay focused in a bipartisan way, bicameral way to get this done I'm hopeful we can get it done,” he said.
“Is it a done deal?” he continued. “No, it isn’t, and we could end up in a train wreck. It’s happened before. But I don't think anybody has an appetite for [a] government shutdown.”
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