Trump widens rift with Congress
President warns he’ll shut down government if wall isn’t funded
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has widened an extraordinary rift with his own party, as he threatened a government shutdown over his long-promised border wall and attacked key lawmakers whose votes he needs heading into a crucial legislative period.
The escalating tensions between the Republican president and the Republican Congress endanger delicate negotiations in the coming weeks to overhaul the tax system, keep the government running and avoid a costly default on the country’s debt. They are the clearest signs to date that the uncomfortable alliance between Trump, who won the presidency promising to “drain the swamp,” and Republican lawmakers who hoped to enact longstalled conservative priorities, has begun to fray.
In a challenge to Republicans late Tuesday, Trump threatened to shut down the government in a matter of weeks if Congress did not fund the wall on the southern border, which was a signature promise of his campaign
for the White House.
“If we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall,” Trump told a raucous rally in Phoenix as his supporters chanted, “Build that wall!”
“The American people voted for immigration control — that’s one of the reasons I’m here,” he added. “One way or the other, we’re going to get that wall.”
On Wednesday, he followed up on the threat by attacking Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who has said he is skeptical of building a wall between the United States and Mexico unless, as Trump promised, Mexico pays for it. Flake is one of two Republican senators up for re-election next year in a swing state, and the president has put his finger on the scale toward a primary challenger, Kelli Ward.
“Not a fan of Jeff Flake,” Trump said in a Twitter post. “Weak on crime & border!”
And amid a frosty period in his relationship with Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, Trump questioned the Senate leader’s approach, faulting Republicans for failing to blow up long-standing Senate rules that make most legislation subject to a filibuster that requires 60 votes to overcome.
“If Republican Senate doesn’t get rid of the Filibuster Rule & go to a simple majority, which the Dems would do, they are just wasting time!” Trump said on Twitter, suggesting a change that McConnell and other Senate Republican leaders have repeatedly rejected.
McConnell on Wednesday sought to play down the friction between himself and the president, issuing a statement in which he insisted that their common legislative priorities were on track.
“The president and I, and our teams, have been and continue to be in regular contact about our shared goals,” McConnell said. “We are working together to develop tax reform and infrastructure legislation so we can grow the economy and create jobs; to prevent a government default; to fund the government so we can advance our priorities in the short and long terms; to pass the defense authorization and defense appropriations bills so we can support our troops and help implement an effective strategy against ISIL; to provide relief from Obamacare; and to continue our progress for our nation’s veterans.”
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, echoed that statement and said the president and McConnell “will hold previously scheduled meetings following the August recess to discuss these critical items with members of the congressional leadership and the president’s Cabinet.”
But there is growing evidence of tensions that have erupted privately between the president and other senior Republicans as well. In a testy call this month, first reported by Politico, Trump vented angrily to Sen. Bob Corker, RTenn., tchairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, over Russia sanctions legislation he said would damage his presidency, according to a person familiar with the conversation. Corker insisted that he would not back down on the measure, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.
Yet Trump’s threat Tuesday of a shutdown introduced new uncertainty to the ambitious wish list. It sharpened a suggestion that Trump made early this year, in the wake of a budget agreement he grudgingly accepted even though it omitted money for the wall, that the United States needed “a good ‘shutdown” this fall to force a partisan confrontation over federal spending.
Trump has asked Congress to allocate $1.6 billion this year toward building a wall along the roughly 1,900-mile border with Mexico. Currently, a mix of barriers — including chain-link fences and steel walls to keep people from crossing and steel beams to stop vehicles — stretches across about 650 miles of the border. So far, Congress has provided $341 million this year to repair and bolster existing border barriers.
Overall, the Trump administration is seeking $3.6 billion for the border wall over the next two fiscal years. In the past, however, Trump has said there is no need for a wall along the entire border.
Congressional leaders distanced themselves from the president’s threat. Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin said Wednesday ithat no one wanted a dispute over the border wall to result in a lapse in government funding, adding that he did not believe that such a confrontation would be necessary.
White House officials said Trump’s words were not meant as a legislative directive or veto promise so much as a message to lawmakers, including Democrats who have previously supported spending on border fencing.
Hardline conservative nationalists such as Steve Bannon, the chief strategist ousted from the White House last week, have counseled the president to take a hard line on wall funding to buck up his political base after the defeat of legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act. They have warned Trump that signing a funding bill that does not include substantial sums for the wall could would enrage his core supporters.
On the other hand, Trump’s bare-knuckled tactics could alienate congressional Republicans when he can ill afford it.