House Republicans are struggling to come up with a strategy to fulfill President Trump ’s demands that the lower chamber pass a funding bill that\u2026<\/b>
\nHouse Republicans are struggling to come up with a strategy to fulfill President Trump ’s demands that the lower chamber pass a funding bill that includes $5 billion for his promised border wall.
By Wednesday evening, GOP leaders still had not settled on what vehicle they would use to fund the wall or if they would even take a vote this week to do so. Lawmakers in the House have until just Dec. 21 to avert a partial government shutdown, and are only scheduled to be working for four of those days.
\u201cThe president is still interested in trying to get a deal,\u201d Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) told The Hill as he emerged from a leadership meeting in Speaker Paul Ryan ’s ceremonial office just off the House floor. \u201cHe\u2019s been advocating for $5 billion to everybody, not just Republicans.\u2026 We support the objective of making sure the president has the money he needs to secure the border.\u201d
In an explosive meeting in the Oval Office a day earlier, Trump told Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) that he could easily push $5 billion in wall funding through the House. Pelosi told him the bill would fail spectacularly \u2014 and dared him to try.
Now, Scalise, Ryan and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) are under enormous pressure to prove their ally in the White House was correct and that Pelosi, the likely incoming Speaker, was wrong.
But it was still unclear late in the day whether Republicans would have enough votes to pass such a package on a party-line vote; Democrats have agreed to back $1.6 billion for border security, but have rejected Trump\u2019s much larger $5 billion wall demands.
Scalise\u2019s team did not whip a $5 billion wall package Wednesday, but they did a \u201cbed check\u201d to figure out which lawmakers were in the Capitol voting. Since the Nov. 6 midterm election, scores of lawmakers, including those who lost their seats and others who won higher office, have been skipping votes, complicating vote-counting efforts.
Twenty-four lawmakers missed the vote on the farm bill Wednesday, including 17 Republicans. Among them were Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who won a Senate seat; Rep. Kristi Noem (R-S. D.), who won her governor\u2019s race; and retiring Reps. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) and Tom Rooney (R-Fla.).
House GOP appropriators told The Hill that one possible way to fulfill Trump\u2019s vow for a wall was to put forth a short-term stopgap measure known as a continuing resolution (CR) that would partially fund the government into January or longer. The appropriators\u2019 package could include the $5 billion for the wall, plus emergency disaster aid for wildfires in the West and other natural disasters.
Sources said any CR could become a \u201cChristmas tree,\u201d with leaders loading it up with anti-sexual harassment legislation, a renewal of flood insurance, and other year-end items.
If House Republicans can muster the votes, it\u2019s possible the Senate would then strip out the $5 billion for the wall and send a CR back to the House with the pared-down $1.6 billion for border security.
The Democrats have offered a CR on the Homeland Security spending bill, which would maintain the 2018 funding level of $1.6 billion for border security through the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. In addition, they would agree to either CRs or new appropriation bills for the unfunded portions of the government.
Still, Trump remains the wild card. Even if Congress reaches a deal to fund the government, Trump still could veto the bill if it doesn\u2019t include his full $5 billion request for the wall. In fact, during his meeting Tuesday with Pelosi and Schumer, Trump said he would relish the chance to shut down the government.
\u201cI am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck,\u201d Trump said in an exchange with Schumer. \u201cPeople in this country don’t want criminals and people that have lots of problems and drugs pouring into our country.“
But other senior Republicans conceded the Trump\u2019s wall funding would largely be a messaging bill. Even if that package narrowly passes the House, it would be dead on arrival in the Senate, where the GOP needs 60 votes to beat back a Democratic-led filibuster.
\u201cIt\u2019s not going anywhere in the Senate. How many hundreds of bills do we have other there? We have to prove yet again we can send a bill over that Schumer won\u2019t provide 60 votes for?\u201d said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a senior appropriator and former member of GOP leadership.
\u201cSo I see an exercise in futility. Because then you\u2019re asking people to make tough votes over here for absolutely no good over there.\u201d
Chief Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry (R-N. C.) also said he isn\u2019t sure bringing up legislation that can\u2019t pass the upper chamber is in the House\u2019s best interest from a strategy standpoint, despite expressing confidence the GOP has the votes. He said the Senate should go first.
\u201cIt has to be a bipartisan vote,\u201d McHenry said. \u201cI think the best move for the House is to wait and be content to know that this is a Senate-driven process at this point.\u201d
However, members of the Freedom Caucus, the bloc of conservative rabble rousers closely aligned with Trump, argue that the House needs to demonstrate it can pass funding for Trump\u2019s wall to give the president better negotiating power and drive Democrats closer to their $5 billion figure.
\u201cThe Republicans will vote for it,\u201d Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) told The Hill. \u201cI think they\u2019ve got the votes, if you want the truth.\u201d
Others came close to predicting a partial government shutdown will take place.
The chances of a partial government shutdown next Friday is \u201cmore than possible,\u201d said Sen. Richard Shelby, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
\u201cI don’t think it’s inevitable. It’s probably more than possible right now,\u201d he told reporters in the Capitol. \u201cIt’ll shut down unless we resolve some things.\u201d
Niv Ellis contributed.<\/p>\n