Trump wants a government shutdown if his wall isn’t funded
President Trump has been telling aides in private what he said publicly during a campaign-like rally in Arizona — that he would be willing to shut the government down if he doesn’t get funding to build a wall on the Mexican border, according to a report Wednesday.
The president told his advisers that he will reject other legislative measures unless he gets money for the wall “and it has to be real money,” Politico reported, citing a senior White House official.
“He is animated about the wall,” the website quoted the official as saying. “He cares about that more than many other things. He knows his base cares and chants about it.”
At his raucous speech Tuesday evening in Phoenix, Trump said he would take the government to the brink if necessary to make good on a major campaign pledge.
“If we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall,” Trump said. “We’re going to have our wall. The American people voted for immigration control. We’re going to get that wall.”
Trump on Wednesday sent a “Build the wall” petition in an email blast to his supporters to pressure GOP senators to vote to fund the barrier.
“I want to show every Republican Senator a list of American voters that will NOT be happy if the wall isn’t built. I need your name on the list,” the email said.
The House last month approved a spending bill that includes $1.6 billion for building the wall, but it has stalled in the Senate, where some lawmakers are questioning whether the barrier is needed or effective.
Senator Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned Trump not to use the shutdown as a bargaining chip.
“If the President pursues this path, against the wishes of both Republicans and Democrats, as well as the majority of the American people, he will be heading towards a government shutdown which nobody will like and which won’t accomplish anything,” the New York Democrat said in a statement.
With huge matters like tax reform and raising the debt ceiling looming when Congress returns in September, some White House aides are urging the president to back off on an issue that doesn’t have widespread support.
”You have barely anyone here saying, ‘Wall, wall, we have to get the wall at all costs,’” one White House official said, Politico reported.
Further complicating the issue is that Trump has been engaged in a knock-down-drag-out feud with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that could throw a wrench into the president’s legislative agenda.
People say Trump views the failure to build a wall as a personal embarrassment and has focused on the issue over all others — despite the consequences.
“You don’t want a government shutdown,” the White House official said. “He is told that. He says, ‘I want money for the wall.’”