Republican leaders oppose shutdown over border wall

Trump says he would blame Democrats, but voters may blame him

President Trump’s threat to shut down the federal government unless Congress funds his controversial border wall could hurt Republicans, prompting GOP leaders to try to avert the potentially damaging action.

“Trump is the one who has threatened a shutdown, so he’s the one who’ll get the blame — except from his hard-core base,” said Jack Pitney, a politics professor at Claremont McKenna College in California. “And he’ll hurt even the more sensible Republicans in Congress since they’re in charge and will get the blame along with him.”

Congressional leaders said Trump is sparking an unnecessary and probably unwinnable battle with the Senate, where Democrats vowed to block money for what their leaders denounced as an “ineffective, immoral and expensive” barrier.

“I don’t think a government shutdown is necessary, and I don’t think most people want to see a government shutdown, ourselves included,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said this week.

Tuesday, Trump promised a crowd of supporters in Phoenix: “If we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall.” The president made it clear that he would blame “obstructionist Democrats” for a government shutdown, but Democrats said he’s the one pushing the unpopular idea.

“If the president pursues this path, against the wishes of both Republicans and Democrats, as well as the majority of the American people, he will be heading towards a government shutdown which nobody will like and which won’t accomplish anything,” said Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the last shutdown, in 2013, cost the U.S. economy $24 million, according to a Standard & Poor’s estimate.

“With a Republican House, Senate and administration, Republicans have absolutely no excuses for threatening America’s families with a destructive and pointless government shutdown,” Pelosi said.

Trump made the same threat during a funding battle in April but backed down when Congress passed a last-minute deal that included money for stepped-up border security but no funds to build a wall. That deal kept the government running through September.

Funding for federal agencies will run out Oct. 1, when a new fiscal year begins, unless Congress approves a spending pack- age and Trump signs it into law.

The House of Representatives passed legislation that included $1.6 billion for construction of 74 miles of wall along the 2,000-mile border with Mexico. Democrats, whose votes are needed to pass spending bills in the closely divided Senate, oppose any measure that includes money for the wall.

“Democrats have no reason to fold,” Pitney said. “Trump has already essentially taken the blame for whatever happens by proclaiming that he’s ready to shut down the government. And the border wall is utterly toxic among Democratic voters, so there’s no reason for Democrats in Congress to give an inch.”

“With a Republican House, Senate and administration, Republicans have absolutely no excuses.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.