Border-wall funding to be postelection fight
WASHINGTON — Congress is heading toward a postelection showdown over President Donald Trump’s wall along the border with Mexico. GOP leaders are signaling they’re willing to engage in hardball tactics that could spark a partial government shutdown.
Trump is promising voters at rallies across the country that Republicans will bring tougher border security. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., promised a “big fight” over the border-wall funding, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has not ruled out a minishutdown as GOP leaders look to help Trump “get what he’s looking for” on the wall.
“Democrats want to abolish America’s borders and allow drugs and gangs to pour into our country,” Trump said without evidence Wednesday in Erie, Pennsylvania.
“Right after the election, we’re doing something very strong on the wall,” Trump added Thursday in an interview on “Fox & Friends.”
Republicans steered clear of shutdown politics ahead of the Nov. 6 midterm elections. They know voters have soured on government dysfunction, hold low views of Congress and are unlikely to reward Republicans — as the party in control of Congress and the White House — if post offices, national parks and other services are shuttered.
GOP leaders struck a deal with Democrats earlier this year to fund most of the government into next year. They presented their case to Trump in a White House meeting in September — showing him photos of the border wall under construction. Trump, who previously warned that he would not sign another big budget bill into law without his border funds, quietly signed the legislation before the start of the new budget year Oct. 1.
Left undone, however, is funding the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the border, and a few other agencies. They’re running on stopgap funds set to expire Dec. 7.
The deadline sets the stage for a new round of budget brawls.
“We intend on having a full-fledged discussion about how to complete this mission of securing our border, and we will have a big fight about it,” Ryan said in a speech at the National Press Club a week ago.
Asked if he made a commitment to Trump for a shutdown over wall funds, Ryan said blame would fall to Democrats, who are in the minority in Congress and largely oppose increased funding for the wall. Trump promised during his 2016 presidential campaign that Mexico would pay for the wall — a claim that Mexico rejects and Republicans routinely ignore.
“We have a commitment to go fight for securing the border and getting these policy objectives achieved,” Ryan said.
House Republicans approved $5 billion for Trump’s wall, including physical barriers and technology along the U.S. southern border, in a key committee, although it comes without Democratic support. A bipartisan bill being considered in the Senate allocates $1.6 billion for the wall, far short of the $5 billion the White House is seeking as part of a $25 billion, five-year plan to complete the project.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., upped the stakes Friday by introducing legislation for the full $25 billion in border funds as he bids for Ryan’s job as the speaker retires.
The chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said Senate Republicans are willing to fight for more than the $1.6 billion currently being considered.