President Donald Trump on Friday stated that he is “totally prepared for a very long shutdown” over the funding for his border wall.
“I hope we don’t but we are totally prepared for a very long shutdown,” he told reporters at a bill signing.
Trump added that the chances of a shutdown are “probably very good,” placing blame on Democrats.
Republicans in the House easily passed a funding bill Thursday night that would add more than $5 billion for the border to a seven-week continuing resolution. The Senate on Friday began taking an initial procedural vote on the House-passed bill Friday afternoon but quickly ran into problems.
Senate Democrats have vowed not to back a bill that includes funding for Trump’s border wall, increasing the likelihood of a partial government shutdown at midnight.
Trump commended his party in the House for passing the funding measure, calling it a “tremendous evening for the Republicans.”
“Now it’s up to the Democrats as to whether or not we have a shutdown tonight,” Trump added.
The House of Representatives passed a short-term spending bill that includes funding for the President’s long-sought border wall less than a day before a partial government shutdown.
The passage of the bill meets President Donald Trump’s demand for $5 billion in funding for a border wall, but it also increases the chances of the government shutting down as the measure is highly unlikely to be voted in the Senate. Democrats have clearly indicated the $5 billion funding was a non-starter for them, so the bipartisan support the bill needs will likely not come.
Following the passage of the bill, President Trump tweeted, “Thank you to our GREAT Republican Members of Congress for your VOTE to fund Border Security and the Wall. The final numbers were 217-185 and many have said that the enthusiasm was greater than they have ever seen before. So proud of you all. Now on to the Senate!”
Soon afterward, Trump followed with a second tweet in which he said that despite Nancy Pelosi’s claim the GOP didn’t have the votes to pass the funding, “the House Republicans voted and won, 217-185. Nancy does not have to apologize. All I want is GREAT BORDER SECURITY!”
If Senators don’t pass the bill to keep the government open, funding for several federal agencies will expire at midnight. Up until Thursday, lawmakers were confident they can avert a partial shutdown, believing the President would sign the measure previously passed in the Senate.
However, later that same day, President Trump again changed his rhetoric, demanding that the stopgap bill include the border wall funding, saying that he wouldn’t sign it otherwise.
The bill House Republicans passed after their meeting with Trump includes $7.81 billion in disaster funds through the rest of the fiscal year in the aftermath of widespread wildfires and Hurricanes Michael and Florence, in addition to $5 billion in new money for the border wall for the rest of the fiscal year.
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