Kellyanne Conway says Trump could shut down the government next month if he doesn’t get funding for his border wall
Counselor to the president says Trump is ‘keeping all options open’ when it comes to shutting the government down as a bartering tactic
Trump wanted to use spending bills to force lawmakers to give him his border wall in September but was talked off the edge by his party
He faces a similar choice when a stop-gap spending bill runs out Dec. 7
Had a meeting with senators yesterday that left them feeling good
But no one knows what Trump will do if he’s denied the $5 billion he’s demanding to complete his border barrier
By FRANCESCA CHAMBERS
DAILYMAIL.COM
16 November 2018
President Donald Trump could allow the government to shut down next month, if Congress refuses the full pot of money he’s demanding for his border wall.
Trump has not said what he will do when Congress sends him its next spending bill, while indicating multiple times over the past few months that he’ll veto the legislation, unless he gets the $5 billion that he wants.
Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, didn’t commit to one position or the other on Friday as lawmakers skipped town for the Thanksgiving holiday yet stated on Fox: ‘The president is keeping all options open — he’s made that clear.
Trump gave lawmakers a pass on funding for his border wall at the last go around as the begged him not to tank their odds of reelection.
Now their penance is coming due, and Trump is likely to collect.
Conway said that lawmakers ‘have failed to meet the president’s modest demands’ for nearly two years.
‘Congress needs to act. Congress needs to act on the wall funding, but Congress also needs to act on immigration,’ she told Fox & Friends on Friday morning.
After a meeting with senators leading the appropriations process the day before at the White House, a spokesman offered a typical readout that mentioned border security but did not get into the weeds of the discussion about the president’s border wall.
‘The President met with Senate Majority Leader McConnell and Senators Shelby and Thune in the Oval Office to discuss the lame duck agenda, including the farm bill, government appropriations – including border security – disaster relief funding, nominations, and prison reform,’ said Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley.
Back on Capitol Hill, the chairman of the Appropriations panel, Shelby, said that exact numbers for funding the border wall were not discussed.
‘I said we shouldn’t ever want to shut down the government,’ he told reporters after the meeting, according to The Hill. ‘I think maybe he agreed, I don’t know,’ Shelby added.
The GOP lawmaker said it was a ‘nice discussion’ and the president was ‘in a good mood’ during the opening round of negotiations.
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