Trump bats for Mexico wall funding as fight looms over budget deadline
With a budget deadline looming, President Donald Trump plans a whirlwind of activities seeking to highlight accomplishments while putting fresh pressure on congressional Democrats to pay for a wall on the US-Mexico border, even if that pressure risks a possible government shutdown.
Trump approaches the symbolic 100-day mark for his administration this coming week juggling a renewed health care push and his demands that a must-pass government funding bill should include money for the wall.
In a tweet Sunday, Trump jabbed at Democrats, who vigorously oppose wall funding.
“The Democrats don’t want money from budget going to border wall despite the fact that it will stop drugs and very bad MS 13 gang members.”
He added: “Eventually, but at a later date so we can get started early, Mexico will be paying, in some form, for the badly needed border wall.”
The 100-day mark falls on Saturday, the same day government could shut down without a budget deal. Trump has announced a rally in Pennsylvania that day.
Despite Trump’s dismissal that the 100-day marker is “artificial,” the White House has packed his schedule.
Trump will sign executive orders on energy and rural policies, meet with the president of Argentina and travel to Atlanta for a National Rifle Association event. Top aides will also fan out around the country to promote the administration.
Trump also plans to outline an ambitious tax cut plan on Wednesday, telling The Associated Press last week that it would I never realised how big (the presidency) was... So you know, I really just see the bigness of it all
— on his new responsibilities
When it came time to, as an example, send out the 59 missiles, the Tomahawks in Syria. I'm saying to myself, 'You know, this is more than just like 79 (sic) missiles.'
— on how being commander-in-chief brings with it a "human responsibility"
This is a very tough environment. Not caused necessarily by me.
—on how his team doesn't get credit for work in a high-pressure setting
I'm 10-0 for that. I've called every one of them. Every time they said I called it way too early and then it turns out
I'm ... whatever. —onhowhe has been proved right to declare incidents as terror attacks before the police had released details or before confirmation from investigative authorities include a “massive” tax break for both individuals and corporations. Aides stressed on Sunday talk shows that funding for a border wall and a vote on an effort to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s health care law were immediate priorities. They asserted that both still could be accomplished in the coming week.
With the Italian prime minister yesterday, you saw, we were joking, "Come on, you have to pay up, you have to pay up." He'll pay.
—on the bonhomie between him and world leaders, and how he'll make thempayforNato
“I don’t think anyone foresees or expects or would want a shutdown,” said budget director Mick Mulvaney on “Fox News Sunday.” Trump would like to revive a failed effort by House Republicans to replace the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare.” He also hopes to use the $1 trillion catchall spending bill to salvage victories on his promised border - on whether he talks to European leaders about the Iran nuclear deal. France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China helped craft the deal
I don’t watch CNN anymore.
—two minutes after he told the interviewerthathewatches CNN and criticised its coverage
wall, a multibillion-dollar down payment on a Pentagon buildup, and perhaps a crackdown on cities that refuse to cooperate with immigration enforcement by federal authorities.
So far, negotiations have proven difficult, with disputes over the wall and health law subsidies to help low-income people afford health insurance.