Trump’s wall demands may decide whether 100th day is a shutdown
Bloomberg News
WASHINGTON (TNS) — Nobody in Washington is saying they want a U.S. government shutdown when funding runs out at week’s end, but one person ultimately may get to decide: President Donald Trump.
Trump’s biggest demand is a Democratic deal-breaker: money for his long-promised border wall with Mexico. Democrats hope he’ll blink to avoid an embarrassing milestone for a new president trying to prove he can govern. A partial shutdown would start on Saturday, Trump’s 100th day in office.
There is an out for both sides - a short-term spending plan that would provide another week or so for negotiations after the deadline early Saturday.
But right now, each side is dug in. And Trump is making things more complicated, not less. At the same time as budget talks intensify, he’s pushing House Republicans to restart work on an Obamacare repeal-and-replace bill after the last one imploded in March when conservatives walked away.
Trump’s also planning to announce at least the broad parameters of a tax overhaul on Wednesday that seems sure to have plenty to annoy Democrats, including likely tax cuts for corporations and high-earners.
On top of that, Trump insists he won’t go quietly even if Republicans and Democrats cut a deal. His budget director tried to sweeten the pot on Friday by offering Democrats help on their pet cause, Obamacare subsidies.
“The question is, how much of our stuff do we have to get? How much of their stuff are they willing to take?” budget director Mick Mulvaney said on Bloomberg Television. “We’d offer them one dollar” of Obamacare payments, he added, “for one dollar of wall payments right now.”
Democrats called Mulvaney’s Obamacare offer a non-starter, saying they refuse to include any funds for a wall in the spending bill that would finance the government through September, the end of the fiscal year.
It’s a rare moment when the Democrats have leverage in the Republican-controlled House, since it’s likely that Republican leaders would need at least some Democratic votes to offset Republican defections on the budget - as has been the case for a series of budget fights in recent years.
Through it all, Trump has sounded upbeat, saying he thinks negotiations are in good shape to avert a shutdown. “Our goal is to continue to do whatever is necessary to fund the government,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said on Friday.
“We don’t know yet” whether Trump would sign a spending bill that doesn’t include money for the border wall, Mulvaney, a former House member from South Carolina and a founding member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, said on “Fox News Sunday.” The budget director said last week that Trump’s priorities, including more funds for defense and immigration enforcement, shouldn’t surprise anyone.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s spokesman, Matt House, complained that the White House in recent days brought a “heavy hand” into what he said were smooth-going talks between congressional Republicans and Democrats.
“If the administration would drop their 11th-hour demand for a wall that Democrats, and a good number of Republicans, oppose, congressional leaders could quickly reach a deal,” House said in a statement Friday.
One thing is certain: any spending deal must be a bipartisan one. Even though Republicans control both houses of Congress and the White House, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan know they’ll both need Democratic votes to pass a government funding measure.