Spending bill nearing vote
Trump says he’s open to signing legislation that would avert shutdown
WASHINGTON >> Lawmakers pushed toward votes Wednesday on a sweeping spending bill that includes a compromise on border security, grappling with a series of last-minute disputes two days ahead of a government shutdown deadline.
President Donald Trump appeared to be open to signing the legislation — which includes far less funding than he has sought for construction of barriers along the southern border — but he said he was waiting to see the final package before making a decision. If Trump does not sign a bill by midnight Friday, another partial government shutdown will
ensue.
“We haven’t gotten it yet. We’ll be getting it and we’ll be looking for land mines” in the legislation, Trump told reporters at the White House.
“I don’t want to see a shutdown. A shutdown would be a
terrible thing,” he said. Trump’s demands for money for his border wall led to the record-long 35-day partial government shutdown that ended late last month.
Bipartisan negotiators struck
a compromise late Monday that includes $1.375 billion for 55 miles of new fences along the border, short of the $5.7 billion Trump had sought for 234 miles of steel walls.
According to a document outlining some details of the deal, viewed by The Washington Post, the bill would provide a total of $49.4 billion for the Homeland Security Department for the 2019 budget year, an increase of $1.7 billion above 2018 levels. The legislation also includes policy provisions specifying that members of Congress cannot be barred from accessing any facility housing children, and it contains language aimed at making it easier for separated children to reunite with family members in the U.S.
A White House official
told the Post on Wednesday morning that Trump sees signing the legislation, if passed by Congress, as the way to avoid another shutdown. But Trump would also likely pursue an executive order to reallocate additional federal funds to barrier projects, the official said, in addition to signing legislation. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Trump said Wednesday that “We have options that most people don’t understand” for building the wall.
Conservative lawmakers said Trump must take those steps in order to satisfy the demands of his base.
“If he signed the bill, based on what has reported and suggested is in the bill, and did nothing else, it would be political suicide,” said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., a leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. “If he signed the
bill, based on the way that we believe the bill to be, and takes other methods to obtain funding for additional border security measures, then I think there’s very little political liability from conservatives.”
But Democrats made clear that they would object to efforts by the administration to reallocate funding appropriated by Congress, although some Republicans argued that the administration could do so without congressional assent.
On Capitol Hill, the debate moved beyond immigration to disagreements over whether to use the bill to provide back pay to federal contractors caught in the middle of the last government shutdown, as well as whether to include an extension of the federal Violence Against Women Act.
There was also concern among some liberal Democrats over concessions made regarding the U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement agency and other issues, though the opposition did not appear widespread enough to threaten House passage.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, told reporters Wednesday that she was confident lawmakers could come to terms on the outstanding issues.
“We have to. We have to. I think we’re in a pretty good place,” Pelosi said.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., offered a tepid endorsement for the framework of the deal, but he said he had to see the bill before he’d back it.
“You cannot get everything you request ... so not everyone is going to be happy ... but does it put a framework in to (protect) the border? That’s what I’ll be looking at,” McCarthy said.
The legislation was expected to be finalized later Wednesday, with votes expected in the House today.
The Senate was expected to follow, though the order of votes could change.
Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., said Democrats would call administration officials to testify on Capitol Hill if they start moving money around in a way that violates the constitutional separation of powers.
“We’re going to respect Article One of the Constitution here and do our job, which is to make sure that we appropriate funding to these agencies, and if they don’t, they can expect to be up here quite a bit,” Aguilar said.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, told reporters Wednesday morning that he expects a House vote on the legislation “tomorrow afternoon or thereafter” and predicted “the overwhelming majority” of House Democrats would support it.
Among the outstanding issues in the sweeping legislation is a push by some Democrats to add language that would provide back pay to federal contractors. Some 800,000 federal workers, and tens of thousands of contractors, went without pay during the 35-day shutdown, and crucial services at airports, food inspection sites, the Internal Revenue Service and elsewhere were jeopardized. Under a law signed by Trump, workers but not contractors are receiving back pay.
“Thousands of federal contractors have not been reimbursed from the 35-day shutdown,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., said Wednesday. “This issue is hanging in the balance . ... It’s just not fair.”
But Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., suggested that inclusion of a back-pay provision for contractors could be a deal-breaker for Trump. “I’ve been told the president won’t sign that,” Blunt told reporters.