The last time the government shutdown was October of 2013. During which Democrats proved masters at shifting the blame during budget negotiations by accusing Republicans of causing the shutdown. Images of senior citizens not receiving their Social Security checks and military personnel going without pay abounded during Obama’s last term.
Now, President Trump’s signature campaign promise may be in peril due to his desire to get a budget passed this week. Both he and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have pressed the case for building a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border through a $1 billion funding request. Some in Washington hope to derail both funding for a wall and a new budget by linking passage of Trump’s proposed budget with eliminating funding for a wall.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says that including funds to fund the border wall would be a sticking point in getting the budget passed. Some Republican leaders have once again cowed down to the Democrats by expressing their own misgivings.
Trump and Sessions contend the building of the wall is essential for their broader plan for national security. Speaking on Fox & Friends, Sessions said that the Trump administration has “already changed the whole mentality at the border” and dismissed concerns over how the wall will be paid for.
“Congress can find a host of ways to pay for this wall,” said Sessions. “It can be done through people who come to our country through Mexico, fees, and costs and even fixing a tax abuse situation that I believe would make a lot of the payment toward fixing it. So there’s no problem with getting this done. The way the system works is that whenever the government is shut down, people blame the Republicans, but lemme tell you, it will be the Democrats that shut this government down to block the funding of the wall.”
It is almost certain that President Trump will not get all the funding for a wall he desires this week but Republicans express confidence they can deliver a significant boost in border security.
Trump has sent mixed signals on how hard he will press for wall funding in a bill that must pass this week to avoid a government shutdown. Last week the president told journalists that he would be content fighting for the money in the fall — but on Tuesday he tweeted to not believe the “fake media” reporting on a change in his position.
“The wall has become sort of a code word for border security,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). “I’m confident that he doesn’t want a shutdown. I hope the Democrats don’t either. Border security, rather than a physical wall, is probably an acceptable outcome here.”
For now, acceptance is setting in that the White House will not get the money needed to follow through on Trump’s central campaign promise to build a massive wall on the southern border.
One official said that Congress “will ramp up border security money with additional fencing and security measures short of the great wall, then push for wall money in the fall.”
John McCain (R – AZ) said the shift is typical for a chief executive still in his first 100 days in the White House: “Presidents are allowed to modify their views with additional information.”
Sean Spicer, White House press secretary, insists that there is no delay in Trump’s wall and that the president’s “priorities have not changed.” Trump himself is adamant that “the wall is going to be built.”
Radio talk show personality, Rush Limbaugh is not as positive. “I hope this is not the case,” he said, “but it looks like, from here, right here, right now, it looks like President Trump is caving on his demand for a measly $1 billion in the budget for his wall on the border with Mexico.”
Sen. John Boozman (R-AR), who oversees the homeland security spending panel, said GOP leaders are likely to fund the entirety of Trump’s border security proposal — the $1.4 billion that he initially wanted for the wall — but for everything but the “physical barrier” that Trump wants.
With the wall issue all but settled in the short term, Democrats are divided over how far to take the fight to fund Obamacare subsidies. It is also likely that the president will receive much of his request for nearly $30 billion in new defense spending.
Only time will tell if the great negotiator has gotten a lot more than his opponents think he has.
~ American Liberty Report
