Government shutdown: Lawmakers reach agreement 'in principle' to avoid shutdown as Friday deadline looms

But who knows?" he said.The emerging agreement was announced by a group of lawmakers, including Republican Sen. Richard Shelby and Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey, after a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill."We're talking about serious, serious, serious things, and we're hopefully making some progress," Shelby, R-Ala., told reporters earlier at the Capitol after the group met for a second time Monday. During the last shutdown, Democrats refused to give him the money, saying the wall would be costly and ineffective.Last week, the bipartisan group explored a compromise involving some sort of structure, though the figures discussed were far less than Trump’s initial request.On Sunday, the talks hit a snag amid disagreement over Democrats' demands for a cap on detentions by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.Democrats said ICE routinely detains more immigrants than it needs to, imprisoning those who don’t have criminal backgrounds and pose no threat to national or domestic security.