Congress: Avoid shutdown

Congressional leaders of both parties agree that a government shutdown would be a terrible idea. So why are we getting close to one?

Lawmakers need to pass funding legislation by Friday night in order to keep the federal government open and running.

To hear congressional leaders tell the story, negotiations were running relatively smoothly — if slowly — until late last week, when the Trump administration started a last-minute push to demand funding for the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Mick Mulvaney, President Trump’s budget director, said the wall is Trump’s “top priority” and offered Democrats $1 in Affordable Care Act subsidies for every $1 in wall payments.

Democratic legislators — some of whom the majority Republican party will need to pass any budget — scoffed at the offer. They were right to do so.

The federal budget is not a hostage negotiation.

Trump also said that Mexico would pay for his top priority. So it seems a bit premature to force Congress to suddenly pass funding for a massively expensive project (as much as $21.6 billion, according to internal Department of Homeland Security documents) ahead of a crucial budget deadline.

It’s not just the Democrats who lack interest in paying for a border wall, either. Plenty of Republican legislators are hesitant to put so much taxpayer money on the line for a project that experts believe will fail to halt illegal immigration.

One likely scenario would be for Congress to pass a one-week budget extension.

But kicking the can down the road for another week is unlikely to change anyone’s mind. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., need to level with the Trump administration about the realities of the budget process. The American people must not endure a federal government shutdown over 11th-hour demands.