On Friday, April 28, Congress and the president must agree on a new budget or the government will shut down. The impending shutdown of the government is a painful reminder of the bitter partisanship in Washington that shut down the government in 2013. The biggest hindrance to the passing of the new budget seems to be the White House’s insistence that the new budget must include funding for the infamous border wall.
Trump and other White House officials have repeatedly stated that the Border Wall must be included in the new budget. Reince Priebus, President Trump’s chief of staff, told NBC’s Meet the Press, “We expect a massive increase in military spending. We expect money for border security in this bill.” Additionally, Trump tweeted yesterday criticizing Democrats for not wanting to include funding for the wall.
The Democrats don't want money from budget going to border wall despite the fact that it will stop drugs and very bad MS 13 gang members.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 23, 2017
Democrats have long been opposers of the border wall so it should come as no surprise that Democrats aren’t going to designate billions of tax dollars to build it. Nancy Pelosi told Meet the Press that “the Democrats do not support the wall (…) The burden to keep it open is on the Republicans. The wall is, in my view, immoral, expensive, unwise.” Pointing out that although Trump promised the Border Wall during his campaign, he never “said he was going to pass billions of dollars of cost of the wall on to the taxpayer.” The fact that the White House wants tax money to pay for the border wall that Trump previously claimed Mexico was going to pay for, is a talking point that many other Democrats are going with, for example, Chuck Schumer. Trump responded to this on Twitter once again.
Eventually, but at a later date so we can get started early, Mexico will be paying, in some form, for the badly needed border wall.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 23, 2017
Trump has put Senate and House Republicans in a tricky spot with his many announcements this week. Not only does he want to include the wall in the budget, he has also tweeted that he will be announcing “Big TAX REFORM AND TAX REDUCTION” this Wednesday. (No one in congress seems to think this is possible.) Furthermore, White House officials have even been pushing for a revival of the replacement and replacement of ObamaCare. How is Congress going to be able to solve both tax reform and health care while scrambling to bring the government back from the brink of a shutdown?
Hill Republicans are desperate to prove that they can govern after their failure to unite the party behind healthcare reform, and a government shutdown would prove the exact opposite.
So why is Trump so adamant on the border wall being included in this budget? Why doesn’t he wait until he, the genius businessman and master negotiator, has convinced Mexico to pay for it? Well, unfortunately for him, the government shutdown would happen at 12:01 on Saturday, April 29, which happens to be the 100-day mark of his presidency. So far, the only major win and fulfilled campaign promise of his presidency is the appointment of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Other than that, the big stories of his first 100-days have been the failure of healthcare reform, the hold up of his travel ban, the ongoing Russia controversy and massive protests, which don’t really sound like a successful first 100-days. That’s probably why he is trying to reform health care, taxes and secure funding for his border wall, all in one week.
Unlike in 2013, Republicans aren’t so keen on shutting down the government as they won’t really have anyone else to blame but themselves. Senator Marco Rubio said on CBS’s Face the Nation that “We cannot shut down the government right now” and that the border wall discussion is “worth having for 2018”. Whether the White House will let this go is unclear.
Assuming all Republicans vote for the new budget, they will need to get eight senate democrats on their side to surpass the 60 vote threshold. The inclusion of the 20 billion dollar border wall (1.4 billion dollars are asked for in this budget, but the total cost will be 20 billion taxpayer dollars), which doesn’t even have the full support of Hill Republicans, could make it hard for Republicans to convince Democrats to join their team.
There are some ways that Congress could avoid a shutdown and give themselves some more time to negotiate with Democrats and the president. The problems seem to be that Capitol Hill Republicans want to prove that they can govern, whereas Trump just wants to prove that he can win.
The looming Government shutdown highlights not only the deep partisan divide in Washington but also the divide within the Republican party. There is a disconnect between the Republicans in Congress and the President that continues to cause confusion as to what the budget will include. A shutdown is in no way certain, but it is possible.
