House OKS Trump’s $5.7B wall money
Bill goes to Senate, but shutdown still possible
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s demand for border wall funds hurled the federal government closer to a shutdown as House Republicans approved a package Thursday with his $5.7 billion request.
The White House said Trump will not travel to Florida on Friday for the Christmas holiday if the government is shutting down. Funding expires at midnight Friday.
The House voted largely along party lines, 217-185, after GOP leaders framed the vote as a slapback to Nancy Pelosi, who is poised to become House speaker on Jan. 3 and who had warned Trump in a televised Oval Office meeting last week that he wouldn’t have the votes for the wall.
“Now we find compromise,” House Majority Leader Kevin Mccarthy, R-calif., said. “We have time right now to get it done.”
The government funding package, which includes nearly $8 billion in disaster aid for coastal hurricanes and California wildfires, now goes to the Senate, where its prospects are grim amid strong opposition from Democrats. Sixty votes are needed to approve the bill there.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell, R-KY., warned senators they may need to return to Washington for a noontime vote Friday.
Many senators already left town for the holidays. The Senate approved a bipartisan bill late Wednesday to keep the government temporarily funded, with border security money at current levels, $1.3 billion, and no money for the wall. The House had been expected to vote on it Thursday.
The most likely possibility Friday is that the Senate strips the border wall out of the bill but keeps the disaster funds and sends it back to the House. House lawmakers said they were being told to stay in town for more possible votes.
With Pelosi’s backing, the Senate-passed bill likely has enough support for House approval with votes mostly from Democratic lawmakers, who are still the minority, and some Republicans.