Shutdown Fears Abound, Despite Temporary ReprieveRoll Call, Dec 10, 2018, Paul M. Krawzak
President Donald Trump signed a continuing resolution into law Friday that would change the expiration date of the stopgap measure enacted before the midterm elections to Dec. 21. But he wasted little time in taking aim at Democratic leaders for “playing political games†on border security funding, even as he prepares to sit down with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York in the Oval Office Tuesday.
While many lawmakers are publicly expressing confidence a shutdown will be avoided, aides speaking on condition of anonymity said there is a widespread fear that the talks will collapse and lead to a shutdown.
The two sides are at loggerheads over Trump’s request for $5 billion in funding for a border wall. Schumer has drawn the line at the $1.6 billion in wall construction funds that Trump initially requested in his fiscal 2019 budget. The Senate's Homeland Security bill contains $1.6 billion for border security. The House version contains nearly the $5 billion Trump requested informally in a meeting with Republicans this summer, which has skipped the formal budget amendment process but has been reinforced in private documents submitted to lawmakers.
Making matters tougher for both chambers, the White House is asking for additional dollars in late-stage requests that appropriators cannot accommodate without busting the spending caps agreed to in February; or cutting elsewhere within the bills they have already put forward; or declaring some of the money an “emergency†that shouldn't count towards the budget caps. That includes more money for wildfire suppression and a new $190 million ask to help care for unaccompanied minor children detained after crossing the border, for instance.
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