Republican lawmakers are dismissing the chances of a government shutdown this October, one month before the midterm elections. That is despite President Trump’s weekend tweet that he quote, « would be willing to shut down government if the…
WASHINGTON, D. C. (CBSMiami) — Republican lawmakers are dismissing the chances of a government shutdown this October, one month before the midterm elections. That is despite President Trump’s weekend tweet that he quote, “would be willing to shut down government if the democrats do not give us the votes for border security, which includes the wall.”
The President’s tweet came as a surprise to Republican leaders who thought they had conveyed to him how hard it would be to secure billions for the wall by October.
They warn an immigration and shutdown fight one month before the midterms could cost the party time and votes.
“I certainly don’t like playing shut down politics,” said Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson on Face The Nation.
Sen. Johnson was one of several republicans this weekend actively discouraging the White House from courting a shutdown.
“I don’t think it’d be helpful, so let’s try and avoid it,” said Johnson.
The shutdown threat was a presidential attempt at hardball over his long sought funding for a border wall.
But Senate’s Republican leader Mitch McConnell said congress may not even be able to get to that until December at the earliest.
McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan met with the President last week to discuss the fall legislative agenda and the obstacles to quick funding of the wall.
“The president is willing to be patient to make sure that we get what we need so that we can make sure we can get that done because border security is extremely important,” said Ryan.
But the president’s patience appears to be wearing thin, though he has backed off similar threats before.
“If we don’t change it, let’s have a shutdown. We’ll do a shutdown, and it’s worth it for our country,” President Trump said on February 6,2018.
That time there was a shutdown but it lasted just a couple hours. With the midterm elections looming, republicans are hoping to avoid a shutdown of any length.
“We’re going to make sure we keep the government open, but we’re going to get better policies on immigration,” said Rep. Steve Stivers on ABC This Week.
The President has already secured 1.6 billion for border security, but is asking for a total of $25 billion for his border wall. Democrats have said they might be willing to vote for some of that funding but only if republicans agree to protect the DACA population, those so-called dreamers, Congress has been unable to strike a compromise and now the House is gone for the next five weeks.
