Trump Willing to Hold Off on Border-Wall Funding
April 24 2017 - 11:11PM
Dow Jones News
By Kristina Peterson and Rebecca Ballhaus
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump is open to waiting until
later this year to secure funding for a wall along the border with
Mexico, White House officials said Monday night, in a shift that
could clear the way for lawmakers to strike a deal to avoid a
government shutdown on Saturday.
Mr. Trump and top administration officials previously indicated
the president wanted to include money to begin building a wall
along the southern border in the bill to keep the government
running after its current funding expires at 12:01 a.m. Saturday,
which is also the president's 100th day in office.
The president addressed the issue at a reception with
conservative media at the White House on Monday night. The
president's new flexibility over whether the wall is funded in this
spending bill or one that will be needed in late September could
remove one of the last remaining hurdles facing congressional
Democrats and Republicans hammering out the five-month bill they
must pass this week to avoid a partial government shutdown.
Without the debate over the border wall, lawmakers may be able
to come to an agreement on the spending bill relatively quickly.
Both Democrats and Republicans had signaled they were willing to
increase money for the military and for broader border security
before administration officials last week indicated that Mr. Trump
would press for money to begin building the wall.
There had been little appetite among Republicans on Capitol Hill
to demand funding now for the border wall specifically, rather than
offer a general boost for tighter border security. Democrats, whose
votes will be needed to pass the spending legislation in the
Senate, had said they would oppose a spending bill that included
money to start building the border wall.
"It's good for the country that President Trump is taking the
wall off the table in these negotiations," Senate Minority Leader
Chuck Schumer said in a statement Monday night. Earlier Monday, Mr.
Schumer had said the wall was a "nonstarter" for Democrats. "Now
the bipartisan and bicameral negotiators can continue working on
the outstanding issues," he said.
Democratic votes will be needed, because Republicans hold just
52 seats in the Senate, where spending bills need 60 votes to clear
procedural hurdles. House GOP leaders will also likely have to rely
on some Democratic help, since some conservative Republicans are
expected to oppose it.
Many Republicans had indicated they would be satisfied with a
spending bill that included money to strengthen security along the
border in ways other than building a wall.
"Border security's the main issue -- whether that includes a
wall or technology, drones, or repairing what we have," Sen.
Shelley Moore Capito
(R., W. Va.) said Monday evening. Ms. Capito said she wasn't
interested in risking a shutdown over the border wall. "I'm not
going to risk a shutdown over anything," she said.
Other Republicans echoed that their top priority was making sure
they crafted a spending bill that could clear both chambers before
the government runs out of money. "I wouldn't mind funding the
wall, but it's a question of what we can do up here, what's
doable," said Sen. Richard Shelby (R., Ala.), a senior member of
the Senate Appropriations Committee.
In March, the administration asked Congress for $1.4 billion in
spending for the current fiscal year for the wall, with an
additional $2.6 billion for the next fiscal year, beginning Oct. 1.
Administration officials said the fiscal 2017 money would pay for
48 miles of new border and levee wall systems, and 14 miles of
replacement fencing, as well as some technology improvements and
road construction.
One issue that remains unresolved is whether the five-month
spending bill under negotiation would include payments to health
insurers known as "cost-sharing reductions," as requested by
Democrats.
The payments support Affordable Care Act insurance plans by
helping insurers lower costs for low-income consumers. An abrupt
withdrawal of the payments would pose an immediate threat to
health-insurance markets, potentially triggering the collapse of
health plans midyear.
Write to Kristina Peterson at kristina.peterson@wsj.com and
Rebecca Ballhaus at Rebecca.Ballhaus@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 24, 2017 22:56 ET (02:56 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.