“There’s No Plan”: GOP In Shutdown Turmoil As Trump Holds Out For Wall
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Fri, 12/14/2018
GOP lawmakers are fuming over a partial government shutdown set to hit just in time for Christmas, after President Trump put his foot down in a Tuesday meeting with Democratic leaders and demanded $5 billion in funding for a border wall – as opposed to the $1.3 billion which would otherwise be appropriated.
During the Tuesday meeting with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Trump said he could easily have a bill passed by the house – to which Pelosi shot back “Then do it!”
Chuck Schumer later dug his heels in on the Senate Floor “I want to be crystal clear. There will be no additional appropriations to pay for the border wall. It’s done.”
Instead, Schumer said Democrats would pass a yearlong stopgap bill which would fund the Department of Homeland Security – or a measure funding all the departments and agencies covered by seven unfinished appropriations bills; both options which would keep the border wall funding a $1.3 billion.
With the two sides at an impasse, it appears that the partial shutdown is a foregone conclusion unless someone blinks.
“There is no discernable plan. None that’s been disclosed,” said #2 Senate Republican John Cornyn of Texas. “Everybody’s looking to [Trump] for a signal about what he wants to do. So far, it’s not clear.”
In a sign that the GOP is having issues coordinating a plan, majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) announced on Thursday that the House would advance a bill with Trump’s $5 billion wall request – however House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) didn’t seem to know anything about it. “I didn’t hear him say that. … Interesting,” said McCarthy when asked about it by a reporter.
Other Republicans expressed frustration with the impasse, with Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) suggesting that the House’s failure to pass a bill was a significant problem. “That’s a central question,” said Shelby. “We’re at an impasse and at the moment it doesn’t look like things are getting any better.”
“This is a case where I think people are putting their political interests ahead of the best interests of the American people. The best interest of the American people is for the government to function smoothly,” said Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), who sits on the House Appropriations Committee. “I personally don’t think a government shutdown will work,” he added.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), meanwhile, has expressed privately that he strongly wants to avoid a shutdown. “He has zero interest in going through a government shutdown,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) – chairwoman of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee.
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), the chief deputy whip, asked whether the GOP would gain leverage by passing the funding bill with $5 billion in wall funding, said he wasn’t sure it was in the House GOP’s interest to send the bill to the Senate if it couldn’t get through that chamber.
“Ok, so it’s December after the election. We shouldn’t be here for show, we should be here to get our work done and get out of here,” he told reporters Wednesday evening. “We have to look at where we are in this process and what is the additive piece here: Is it the stay and wait or is it to take action? So those two things matter for a call like this.” -The Hill
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