Until Monday, the biggest sticking point had been funding for the border wall, but the White House is conceding on that demand, deferring that fight until later this year, when funding for 2018 comes up, according to senior administration officials, CBS News' Major Garrett reported Monday. President Donald Trump could avert the risk of a government shutdown next. FILE - In this April 5, 2017 file photo, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of NY takes a question during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions also didn't risk saying whether the president would sign a spending bill without funding for wall. White House budget director Mick Mulvaney supplied one gruesome outcome when he said on Monday that President Trump might refuse to sign a government spending bill that does not include money for a wall between the USA and Mexico, therefore leaving the door open for a federal government shutdown toward the end of the week. After signaling last week that they hoped for a vote as soon as this week on a rewritten health bill, White House officials softened their stance Monday. With little to show in legislative victories so far, the Trump administration would love to claim achievements on Capitol Hill by that day.
The same day, federal agencies would have to close unless lawmakers pass a $1 trillion spending bill financing them or legislation keeping them open temporarily while talks continue.
Earlier on Tuesday, the NBC News broadcaster reported, citing a senior administration official, that Trump may postpone his plans to construct a wall until October to avoid a possible shutdown of the United States government. Democrats said they were satisfied with the emerging outlines of the measure, which stick closely to versions of the legislation that were being negotiated late past year. Absent a spending deal, the government will go dark on Saturday, which also marks President Trump's 100th day in office. Then Trump told a group of reporters from conservative media outlets Monday night he is willing to delay wall funding until the fall. Two people in the room described his comments to The Associated Press.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., approved of Trump's apparent shift. While demands from the White House have complicated the negotiations, President Trump appears to have retreated on some key issues.
"If the president stepped out of it, we could get a budget done by Friday", Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday in a conference call with reporters, referring to Democratic and Republican budget negotiators.
Earlier on Monday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump's demand that Congress include funds for the construction of the wall remained a White House priority.
Mexican official: US border wall 'hostile'
Mr Trump told a gathering of conservative media reporters that he might be willing to wait until September for the funding. Orrin Hatch said of the reports that Trump would hold off. "There's different forms that he can use", Hatch said.
Back when we had a divided government, with President Bush and a Democratic congress and with President Obama and a Republican Congress, we were always in danger of having the government shut down over an inability of the branches of our government to agree on spending bills.
Cost estimates for the wall range past $20 billion, and Republicans are seeking $1.4 billion as a down payment in the spending bill. "There's a spending bill that's being considered as we speak".
But while the idea is a priority of Mr Trump's most fervent supporters, it is resolutely opposed by Democrats and even many Republicans, who see it as wasteful and who prefer other steps like new technologies and additional border agents to curb illegal immigration.
The negotiations over the spending bill took center stage despite a separate White House push for fast action to revive health care legislation to repeal and replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The original GOP bill eliminated numerous "Obamacare" mandates, offered skimpier subsidies for consumers to buy care and rolled back a Medicaid expansion. GOP leaders avoided a planned House vote last month, which would have failed due to opposition from GOP moderates and conservatives alike.
BENNETT: Republicans control all the levers of power in Washington, but Democrats have leverage in these spending talks, which Crowley says the president is finding out firsthand.
Comments