‘Shutdown if no funds for wall’
US President Donald Trump told the media at the White House that this would be a “good time” for a government shutdown if he doesn’t get funding from Congress for a US-Mexico border wall.
“I think probably, if I was ever going to do a shutdown over border security, when you look at the caravans, when you look at the mess, when you look at the people coming in, this would be a very good time to do a shutdown,” CNN quoted Trump as saying on Saturday.
Trump added, however, that he didn’t think a shutdown would “be necessary, because I think the Democrats will come to their senses”.
Congress averted a government shutdown in September by passing a massive spending bill to fund a large portion of the government.
The package did not, however, include money for Trump’s border wall, and Congress passed a shorter-term spending bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, among other agencies, until December 7.
At a White House event in August, Trump said he was looking for about $5 billion for the wall to cover this fiscal year, which some Democrats have already said they would vote against.
WASHINGTON:
TRUMP SURVEYS FIRE-HIT PARADISE
Trump expressed sadness on Saturday at the devastation caused by fires in a California town, but persisted in his controversial claim that forest mismanagement is responsible for the tragedy which has left 76 dead and more than 1,000 listed as missing.
“This is very sad,” Trump said after surveying Paradise, where nearly the only people out on the road were emergency services workers, surrounded by the twisted remains of a community incinerated by the flames.
“They’re telling me this is not as bad as some areas; some areas are even beyond this, they’re just charred,” he added after looking at a street lined with melted cars, tree stumps and the foundations of wrecked houses.
The destructive wildfires in California have now claimed a total of 76 lives after authorities on Saturday confirmed five more victims.