Trump says he won’t sign Senate deal to avert shutdown, demands funds for border security
Trump: Government funding bill ‘must include border security’
President Trump on Dec. 20 spoke about his rejection of a funding bill to avoid a government shutdown, saying that the measure needs to enhance border security. (The Washington Post)
By Erica Werner ,
Damian Paletta and
Mike DeBonis December 20 at 8:02 PM
President Trump threatened Thursday to veto a stopgap spending bill unless it includes billions of dollars to build a wall along the Mexico border, sending large parts of the federal government lurching toward a shutdown starting Saturday.
His comments came after an emergency meeting with House Republican leaders, where Trump revealed he would reject a measure passed in the Senate the night before. That measure would fund many government agencies through Feb. 8, but it would not include any new money for Trump’s border wall.
“I’ve made my position very clear. Any measure that funds the government must include border security,” Trump said in an event at the White House. He added, “Walls work, whether we like it or not. They work better than anything.”
Trump’s comments on Thursday completely overturned the plan GOP leaders were patching together earlier in the day. With no other viable options available, they had hoped to pass the short-term spending bill approved by the Senate, averting a government shutdown set to start just days before Christmas.
Trump’s rejection of the stopgap measure set off a chaotic scramble in the Capitol, as officials sought clarity on a proposal many had expected Trump would grudgingly accept.
House Republican leaders hurried to appease the president, pulling together a bill that would keep the government funded through Feb. 8 while also allocating $5.7 billion for the border wall. The bill included an additional nearly $8 billion for disaster relief for hurricanes and wildfires.
Ryan: Trump won't sign funding proposal
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said on Dec. 20 President Trump would not sign a funding bill, because it did not address his border security concerns. (Reuters)
The measure passed the House on a near-party-line vote of 217-185 Thursday night, over strident objections from Democrats who criticized the wall as immoral and ineffective and declared the legislation dead on arrival in the Senate.
But the House vote only hardened Washington’s budget impasse barely 24 hours away from the shutdown deadline. Democrats have the Senate votes to block any bill that includes funding for Trump’s wall, and Trump says he’ll veto any bill that doesn’t.
Funding for roughly 25 percent of the federal agencies whose budgets rely on Congress will expire at the end of Friday. The agencies affected deal with homeland security, law enforcement, national parks, transportation, housing, and other agencies.
The rest of the government, including the military, would not be affected, as it’s funded through September by bills lawmakers already passed earlier this year.
The impacted agencies would continue to perform some of their functions, but more than 100,000 employees are expected to be sent home without pay.
Trump 'proud to shutdown the government for border security'
Speaking to Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), President Trump said Dec. 11 he will shut down the government if he doesn't get what he wants. (Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
The White House hasn’t yet revealed the full impact of a partial shutdown, as it is up to each agency to implement its own plan. But it is clear the effects would be widespread: Close to 80,000 Internal Revenue Service employees would no longer come into work, and national parks that are locked at night would not reopen in the morning.
It can occasionally take several days for the full impact of a shutdown to kick in, and some agencies could remain open on Saturday but close by Monday.
Numerous agencies would be impacted immediately, and some on Thursday seemed completely unprepared for the brinkmanship in Washington.
Officials from the Smithsonian Institution, Statue of Liberty, Golden Gate National Park, and Gateway Arch either said they weren’t sure if they would be open on Saturday or didn’t respond to requests for comment.
A government shutdown could drag on for days or weeks, as Democrats have shown no willingness to budge from their refusal to finance a wall. Democrats take control of the House of Representatives in early January, giving them even more leverage in negotiations.
As Thursday night wore on, a partial government shutdown began to appear all-but inevitable to many on Capitol Hill, though House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) insisted that “there’s still plenty of time” to avoid one.
“I think you’ll find that we’ll be able to move forward and make sure we keep the government open,” McCarthy said after returning from the White House. “And also we believe we need border security.”
But the path forward was far from clear, and the 115th Congress threatened to end on a bitter note of dysfunction as House conservatives, who’ve waged numerous futile battles over the years, picked one last fight before sinking into the minority, this time backed up by the president.
Trump is schedule to leave Friday afternoon for two weeks in Florida, but it was unclear if he would do so amid a partial government shutdown. He has repeatedly threatened a government shutdown since taking office, telling advisers it would be good politics for Republicans to demonstrate their resolve in building a border wall.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday warned Republicans they may have to return for a vote on Friday. But it’s impossible for McConnell to pass a spending bill without support from Democrats, who have locked arms in opposition to any money for a border wall.
[Senate passes bill to keep government open until February, undercutting Trump’s drive for border wall funding]
Trump’s opposition to the short-term deal brings him full-circle. Last week, he told incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) that he would be “proud” to shut the government down if he didn’t get the $5 billion for the wall.
This Tuesday, when it became clear Trump didn’t have enough support in Congress for the $5 billion, the White House began backing down from the ultimatum. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump would find other ways to fund the construction of the wall.
On Wednesday, Trump wrote in a Twitter post that the military would build it, though a number of budget experts said that would be illegal, as money can’t be redirected without Congress’s approval.
When Trump appeared to be backing down, conservative media outlets and Congress’s most conservative members revolted, demanding the president rethink his decision. By Thursday, Trump was back to demanding his wall and insisting the money come from Congress.
Conservatives including members of the House Freedom Caucus encouraged the president to take a hard-line stance, arguing this was his last opportunity to try to extract any money for the wall.
“We have to fight now or America will never believe we’ll fight,” Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) told Republicans at a closed-door meeting Thursday.
“The time to fight is now. I mean, this is stupid,” said Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.).
As GOP leaders moved to adjust to Trump’s shifting stances, Democrats ridiculed the spectacle, even as they repeated vows that they would provide no money for Trump’s wall.
“I don’t know that anyone ever has any assurances from the White House on any subject including this one,” said Pelosi, the likely next speaker. “We’re right in the middle of a sort of a meltdown on the part of Republicans.”
The construction of a wall along the Mexico border was one of Trump’s top campaign promises in 2016, and he vowed to somehow make Mexico pay for it all. Since he won the election, he has demanded the money come from Congress, seeking between $1.6 billion and $5 billion. At one point, he even insisted Democrats give him $25 billion for the wall.
In Twitter posts early Thursday, Trump had ripped Democrats and promised to fight for wall funding but still appeared ready to sign a measure to keep the government open. He claimed his initiatives to move more agents along the Mexican border had made it “tight” and said he would not support infrastructure legislation next year unless Democrats eventually agree to finance the construction of a wall.
“Remember the Caravans?” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Well, they didn’t get through and none are forming or on their way. Border is tight. Fake News silent!”
The government’s Department of Homeland Security painted a much different picture of the situation just a few weeks ago. It reported that the number of people arrested or detained along the Mexico border reached a new high for the Trump presidency in November, as arrests of juveniles and parents with children continued to rise. U.S. Customs and Border Protection detained 25,172 members of “family units” in November, the highest number ever recorded.
Last week, Trump said terrorists were crossing the U.S. border and he also offered the unfounded claim that people with contagious diseases were entering the country. At Trump’s meeting with Pelosi and Schumer, the president said he would take responsibility for a government shut down, upsetting many Republicans who had wanted to blame Democrats for any impasse.
Seung Min Kim, John Wagner, Josh Dawsey, Paul Kane and Sean Sullivan contributed to this report.
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