McConnell to introduce short-term spending bill to avoid shutdown

December 19, 2018

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced on the Senate floor Wednesday that he’ll introduce a short-term spending bill to fund the government into early February, and one of the president’s top aides suggested earlier in the day Mr. Trump may be amenable to that.

The announcement of such a short-term measure to fund the government at current levels, called a continuing resolution, is the biggest breakthrough yet in the recent standoff between the White House and Congress, as they look to avert a shutdown days before Christmas. President Trump has demanded $5 billion for his border wall, and Democrats have offered only $1.6 billion for border security measures. McConnell’s would fund border security at its current level of $1.3 billion, and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats will support the measure.

Mr. Trump could consider a short-term funding deal to avoid a shutdown, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Wednesday morning.

“He may — he’ll take a look at that certainly,” Conway told reporters outside the White House.

But that short-term solution, she said, doesn’t mean the administration is “backing down” from its essential promise to secure the border. Mr. Trump, in a meeting last week with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and presumptive incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said he would be “proud” to shut down the government over the border. Conway said the president will “find the money one way or another.”

The federal government is facing a Friday night deadline to fund the government or the government will partially shut down. Departments already funded will not be affected. The president and his top aides had been saying they are requiring that the funding include $5 billion for his border wall. But Tuesday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the administration wants to avoid a shutdown, and would look for other ways to fund the wall.

“One way or the other, we will win on the Wall!,” the president tweeted Wednesday morning.

But Schumer, speaking on the Senate floor, warned that the administration could not reprogram funds. “Let me be very clear — the administration cannot reprogram funds appropriated by Congress for the full wall without our assent,” he said. “To do so would violate Congress’ Article I powers. They cannot do it on their own.”