WH weighing govt. stopgap funding in wall feud
85 views · Published 25 December 2018 · 1:50 · Indexed 31 October 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(19 Dec 2018) US President Donald Trump appeared to back off his demand for $5 billion to build a southern border wall, signaling for the first time that he might be open to a deal that would avoid a partial government shutdown. One option that has been circulating on Capitol Hill would be to simply approve government funding at existing levels, without a boost for the border, as a stopgap measure to kick the issue into the new Congress next month. The chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., confirmed late Tuesday his office was preparing legislation to keep government funded, likely into February. While Trump has not said that he would sign such a measure, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway signaled Wednesday that he may consider it. "He'll take a look at that certainly," said Conway. "This is all breaking news, in other words, what the Congress is going to put before him." Continuing to move away from his funding demand, Trump tweeted Wednesday: "One way or the other, we will win on the Wall!" The turn of events kick-started negotiations that had been almost nonexistent since last week's televised meeting at the White House, when Trump neither accepted nor rejected the Democrats' offer. They had proposed keeping funding at current levels of $1.3 billion for border security fencing and other improvements, but not for the wall. The Senate's top Republican and Democratic leaders began negotiating new proposals and talks were expected to continue. Trump had campaigned on the promise that Mexico would pay for the wall. Mexico has refused. The standoff dispute could affect nine of 15 Cabinet-level departments and dozens of agencies, including the departments of Homeland Security, Transportation, Interior, Agriculture, State and Justice, as well as national parks and forests. Congress did pass legislation to fund much of the government through the fiscal year, until Oct. 1. But a partial shutdown would occur at midnight Friday on the remaining one-fourth of the government. About half the workers would be forced to continue working without immediate pay. Others would be sent home. Congress often approves their pay retroactively, even if they were ordered to stay home. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/dba8dc91c1286567c4ea5e7e9ee52645
