A White House spokesman said Monday he is “very confident” Congress will pass a spending bill to avoid a government shutdown this week, but cautioned that there are no guarantees.
Asked directly whether he could say for certain that there would be no shutdown when government money runs out at midnight Friday, spokesman Sean Spicer said he could not.
“I can’t guarantee — but I think that the work that [Budget] Director [Mick] Mulvaney and others have made in these negotiations has been very positive,” Spicer replied. “They feel very confident that that won’t happen.”
Capitol Hill has been buzzing with speculation about a possible showdown should President Trump insist that money for some of his priorities, like the border wall with Mexico, be included in the spending package.
Trump has pushed for funding for the wall, but it’s unclear if a bill including that money could get enough votes to pass.
“Look, they’re currently negotiating. We feel very confident that they understand the president’s priorities and that we’ll come to an agreement by the end of Friday,” Spicer said.
Trump’s spokesman also mounted a vigorous defense of the president’s first 100 days, despite the fact that just one of the 10 bills he promised to send to Congress in his 100-day pledge to voters had actually been submitted.
That bill was the American Health Care Act, which never came to a vote.
“We feel very proud of what we have been able to establish and fulfill the promises that he’s made to the American people,” he said.
“When you look at job creation, immigration, trade, I think when you look at it overall in terms of the drop in border crossings, if you look at consumer confidence in the relationships that we have developed around the globe … those have been unbelievably significant.”
But he also admitted that the first 100 days have been a learning experience for the nascent administration.
“I’m sure there are things you learn in the job, but I think he’s very proud of what he has set out to do and the progress that we have made,” Spicer said.
He also repeated Trump’s assertion Friday that it did not matter if health care reform were passed within the first 100 days.
“I think we have been very clear. The president made it clear on Friday that if it happens and we have the vote this week, if it’s next week or the week after. We want to make sure we have the votes and are headed in the right direction,” he said.