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WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump is threatening a government shutdown if congressional …
POLITICS
Trump’s Border Wall Could Cause A Government Shutdown
Neither Trump nor Democrats look like they’re backing down.
WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump
is threatening a government shutdown if congressional Democrats do not
give in to his demands to fund a border wall in a spending bill next
month, but Democrats do not appear to be backing down.
“If
we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall,” Trump
said during a Tuesday rally in Phoenix, Arizona, suggesting that he
would allow a shutdown come October if a U.S.-Mexico wall was not funded.
Democratic
leaders responded swiftly Wednesday morning making it clear that the
inclusion of wall funding in a bill to keep the government open would be
enough for them to vote no.
“If
the President pursues this path, against the wishes of both Republicans
and Democrats, as well as the majority of the American people, he will
be heading towards a government shutdown which nobody will like and
which won’t accomplish anything,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer
(D-N.Y.) said in a statement.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also issued a statement, saying Democrats would “stand fast against the immoral, ineffective border wall and the rest of Republicans’ unacceptable poison pill riders.”
“Make
no mistake,” Pelosi added, “the President said he will purposefully
hurt American communities to force American taxpayers to fund an
immoral, ineffective and expensive border wall.”
Democrats
didn’t get into specifics about whether there was some small amount of
money they could accept towards Trump’s wall. But one
leadership aide pointed out that the agreement in April during the
omnibus stipulated that there would be no new fencing or concrete used
for construction, while funding for replacement fencing was fine.
Wall funding on a continuing resolution, this senior Democratic leadership aide said, was a “non-starter.”
Congressional
leaders and the president haven’t really begun negotiations on the
continuing resolution ― or, for that matter, the debt limit, which the
U.S. government is due to hit some time in October ― but Democrats have
been emphatic for months that they would not vote for a spending bill
that funds new construction on a wall.
That position could put Republican leaders in a tough spot, as they could end up negotiating with Democrats and the president.
The President said he will purposefully hurt American communities to force American taxpayers to fund an immoral, ineffective and expensive border wall. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi
Trump
does not seem like he’ll back down easily on the wall, which is perhaps
his most memorable campaign promise ( that Mexico was supposed to pay
for). But Republicans need Democratic votes to pass a continuing
resolution ― at least eight of them to reach the 60-vote procedural
threshold in the Senate. On top of those votes, however, if lawmakers
combine the debt limit and the continuing resolution into one
legislative vehicle, Republicans will likely need substantial support
from Democrats to pass the bill.
There are many Republicans who will not support a debt limit increase
without substantial changes to our spending or the way we prioritize
debt payments. That means it’s Democrats who will likely be supplying a
healthy chunk of the votes for this expected government funding/debt
limit bill. Democrats could drive an even harder bargain by insisting
that Obamacare subsidy payments be included in that bill, further
complicating the votes on the Republican side.
One
easy compromise would be for Democrats to get the so-called cost
sharing reductions in the bill and for Republicans to get at least some
portion of wall funding. But Democrats aren’t signaling any willingness
to make a deal like that, even if the amount for new wall construction
is paltry.
Meaning
that, if Trump and Democrats are serious that they’ll shut down the
government over the wall, that’s the direction we’re headed in.
Democrats
firmly believe Trump and Republicans will take the blame for a shutdown
(as well as a debt default). It is, Democratic aides will remind you,
Republicans who control all levers of the federal government. And Trump
would have a lot more trouble touting the success of the stock market if
we reached a debt default or shutdown and stocks began to tumble.
But
the pressure to come up with some deal, even one that gives Trump just a
pyrrhic victory on the wall, could be substantial come Oct. 1 when
agencies close their doors. Many congressional Republicans might come
around to the idea of just keeping the government open with an even
shorter-term continuing resolution ― one that only extends funding for,
say, a week ― but Trump could put his foot down and veto that bill.
If
he did, with at least some congressional Republicans supporting a
short-term measure to get it to Trump’s desk, it’d be hard for the
administration to argue this was Democratic obstruction causing a
shutdown, though Trump and other Republicans will surely do just that.
But
Republican congressional leaders like Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will have to decide who
they serve in this debate, and whether they’re willing to put a bill
that doesn’t fund the wall on the president’s desk.
When
asked about whether Republicans would hold strong on the wall, Ryan’s
office told HuffPost that Ryan will hold a press conference later in the
day about tax reform.
McConnell’s office has not responded to a request for comment.
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