Gov’t shutdown, health bill rescue at stake in Congress

Trump, in a private meeting with conservative media outlets, said he might wait until Republicans begin drafting the budget blueprint for the fiscal year that starts on 1 October to seek government funds for building a wall along the US-Mexico border, the White House confirmed.

Pressed repeatedly on Monday about whether Trump would sign off on a budget that leaves out funding for the border wall, White House press secretary Sean Spicer demurred. Congress must pass a $1 trillion catch-all spending bill to pay for all agencies of government by midnight Friday or trigger a partial shutdown the next day, which happens to coincide with the 100th day of Trump’s presidency. “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”.

Republicans insist that there won’t be a shutdown, and if they can’t reach agreement and pass a bill by Friday, they will pass a short-term spending bill for one or two weeks that will give negotiators more time to reach an agreement. They also are opposed to the administration’s requests for language in the spending bill that would pave the way for gutting Obamacare subsidies, eliminating funding for sanctuary cities and defunding Planned Parenthood. So White House officials pitch new bargaining position; Trump, allowed to talk, says no let’s just lose completely.

The State Department said late Monday that its intention was “to inform the public about where the president has been hosting world leaders” and that it regrets “any misperception”.

Gonzales is also not convinced that the president’s insistence on a wall is the only issue, despite what Schumer said. Democrats are against the idea and some lawmakers from the Republican Party oppose the move, too.

Many Republicans had indicated they would be satisfied with a spending bill that included money to strengthen security along the border in ways other than building a wall. Even the US Chamber of Commerce, a sprawling lobbying group that represents all types of industries in Congress, named “border security”, hiring more immigration officers and other immigration issues in its most recent lobbying records.

The Post charitably headlines this as “White House “confident” of averting shutdown as Trump shows flexibility on wall“.

“I’m optimistic. I don’t think anybody wants a shutdown”. But Trump is particularly sensitive to his lack of progress on his 100-day promises he made during the campaign-chief among them, the border wall and the repeal of Obama’s health care law. Billions of dollars’ worth of roads would have to be built to get construction equipment and materials to the border, causing untold environmental damage. He added that “it’ll be enough in the negotiation to move forward either with construction or the planning … to get going on the border wall and border security”.

But many Republicans, as well as Trump, promised that any repeal of the Affordable Care Act would preserve coverage for pre-existing conditions. An abrupt withdrawal of the payments would pose an immediate threat to health-insurance markets, potentially triggering the collapse of health plans midyear.