Will he or won’t he?
WASHINGTON – After a rare lashing from conservatives, President Donald Trump declared Thursday he would not sign a bill to keep funding the government because it fails to provide billions for a border wall with Mexico, throwing Congress into deep disarray and risking a federal shutdown this weekend.
Conservatives want to keep fighting for the money to pay for the wall as a last act of the GOP-led Congress before Democrats take House control in January. They warn that “caving” on Trump’s repeated wall promises could hurt his 2020 re-election chances, and other Republicans’ as well.
Trump’s sudden rejection of the legislation, after days of mixed messages, sent Republican leaders scrambling for options back on Capitol Hill.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, exiting a hastily called meeting with Trump and other GOP lawmakers at the White House, said, “We’re going to go back and work on adding border security to this, also keeping the government open, because we do want to see an agreement.”
Trump’s demand for wall pushes government closer to shutdown
News > Nation UPDATED: Thu., Dec. 20, 2018, 10:25 p.m. WASHINGTON – The federal government was careening toward a partial shutdown Friday after President Donald Trump’s quest for a border wall left Congress without a clear plan to keep the government running past a midnight deadline.