The next 24 hours will be crucial and will determine whether Republicans and Democrats in the US Congress to agree on the security issues on the border, so as to avoid a new suspension of the Federal government (“shutdown”) on February 15. This was stated on Sunday on Fox News channel by Republican Senator from Alabama, Chairman of the appropriations Committee of the Upper House of Congress Richard Shelby.

“I believe that the negotiations [between Republicans and Democrats] have stalled at the moment. I hope that we will be able to move from a dead point today or tomorrow morning, time is running out,” he admitted.

As explained by the Senator, one of the stumbling blocks is the requirement of the opposition party to impose restrictions on the number of persons with criminal records of illegal immigrants in detention centers in the United States. “We have problems with the Democrats, who talk about the detained criminals. They want to set a limit to such detentions, and we [Republicans] do not want this,” explained Shelby, noting the need to move as soon as possible from a dead point in the negotiations on this issue.

“I believe the next 24 hours will be crucial. We are able to conclude a number of deals, but these deals should provide good [favorable] position to ensure the security of our borders,” – said the Senator. On Sunday, NBC’s acting chief of staff of the White House, Mick Mulvaney, refused to rule out the possibility of a new “shutdown” if Congress does not allocate the necessary funds for the construction of the wall on the US-Mexican border.

On January 25, the White House and Congress agreed on a short-term resumption of financing activities of the US government, ending thus “shutdown”, lasting 35 days. However, the agreement covered only until February 15. While Republicans and Democrats did not overcome the budget controversies, mainly related to the strengthening of control over the US border with Mexico, and did not remove the threat of a new “shutdown”.