Trump Doubles Down on Threat to Shut Government Over Border Wall
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump vowed to press for a government shutdown to win funding for a border wall regardless of the political consequences amid fears among Republican lawmakers that a shutdown before the November elections could damage the party.
“I don't care what the political ramifications are,” Trump said in a tweet on Tuesday. “Our immigration laws and border security have been a complete and total disaster for decades, and there is no way that the Democrats will allow it to be fixed without a Government Shutdown.”
He added in another tweet that a government shutdown “is a very small price to pay.”
The statements doubled down on threats he made in tweets over the weekend and at a news conference Monday at the White House. The Wall Street Journal editorial page, influential in Republican circles, responded by branding the gambit “Trump's Lose-the-House Strategy.”
Republicans in Congress are planning to delay a fight over the president's border wall until after the November election.
House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are sticking with their strategy of completing full-year funding bills for most agencies before the Oct. 1 start of the next fiscal year. They say they'll wait until later to seek $5 billion for the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The two leaders met with Trump last Wednesday and later said the president was on board with their plan -- leaving aides to wonder why Trump appears to be contradicting that strategy.
To contact the reporter on this story: Shannon Pettypiece in Washington at spettypiece@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Mike Dorning, Bill Faries
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
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