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White House Signals Retreat on Shutdown Threat White House Signals Retreat on Shutdown Threat
(about 1 hour later)
WASHINGTON — The White House signaled on Tuesday that President Trump is backing down on his demand for $5 billion from Congress for a wall at the southern border, easing fears of a Christmas government shutdown that would begin at midnight Friday. WASHINGTON — The White House signaled on Tuesday that President Trump may be backing down on his demand for $5 billion from Congress for a wall on the border with Mexico, easing fears of a Christmas government shutdown that would begin at midnight Friday.
Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, said on Fox News that because the Trump administration has a “number of different funding sources we could use” to reach the $5 billion price tag, the administration would be willing to compromise over border security in the spending bills still pending in Congress. Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, said on Fox News there were other ways to secure his demand and deliver on a signature campaign promise — one that Mr. Trump previously said was willing to shut down the government over.
Ms. Sanders’s remarks, just days before a partial government shutdown is set to take effect, are the first indication that Mr. Trump would be willing to acquiesce over a wall that he initially said Mexico would pay for. She said the administration has a “number of different funding sources we could use” to reach $5 billion, suggesting that the money could be found for border security in the spending bills still pending in Congress. But she also conceded that the administration could settle for the highest number offered by congressional Democrats — $1.6 billion — in a Homeland Security spending bill that already contains about $26 billion in all for border security.
“At the end of the day we don’t want to shut down the government, we want to shut down the border,” she said. That $1.6 billion offer from the Democrats expressly prohibits the additional border money to be used on a wall.
“That’s something that we would be able to support,” Ms. Sanders said, “as long as we can couple that with other funding resources that would help us get to the $5 billion.”
She added: “At the end of the day, we don’t want to shut down the government, we want to shut down the border.”
Only a week ago, Mr. Trump publicly castigated the congressional Democratic leaders, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, in a televised Oval Office meeting where he vowed to shut down the government if Democrats refused to allocate money for the wall. He proclaimed himself “proud to shut down the government for border security.”
Ms. Sanders’ suggestion — one so far not publicly reiterated by the president — may be no more than the latest development in a budgetary battle marked by fizzling negotiations and lawmakers wary of approaching the president with legislation that he will not sign.
Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said negotiations continue ahead of the midnight Friday deadline, after which much of the government runs out of money.
“We’ve got a lot of parties involved, and we’ve got to thread the needle,” Mr. Shelby said.
Republican congressional leaders expressed bewilderment on Monday about whether a deal could be reached to continue funding the government past the Friday deadline, and what Mr. Trump’s intentions were.
“I think it will all work out, but I don’t know of a specific plan,” said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican, emerging from a meeting of the party’s Senate leaders on Monday evening.
Asked what the most likely vehicle would be for resolving the impasse, Mr. Cornyn said: “Believe it or not, there is no leading contender.”
Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the third-ranking Republican, was similarly stumped. Asked what Mr. Trump’s thinking was about averting a shutdown, he said: “I’ve not seen any recent revelation on that.”
“There are so many permutations of how this could end,” Mr. Thune added. “At the moment, we’re like everybody else, waiting to see if a deal can be struck.”
But on Tuesday, Mr. Shelby struck a more optimistic tone.
“There’s hope,” he said. “People are listening to each other, but that could stop.”