In a pointed visit to the Pentagon on Thursday, President Donald Trump sounded the alarm on a government shutdown.
A shutdown would wreak havoc on the military, he claimed from the steps of the military hub, and it can only be prevented if Democrats end their attempt to score political points on him.
‘For any reasons it shuts down, the worst thing is what happens to our military,’ the commander-in-chief said. ‘The group that loses big would be the military, and we’re never letting our military lose at any point.
In a pointed visit to the Pentagon on Thursday, President Donald Trump sounded the alarm on a government shutdown
Trump claimed in his remarks before a meeting with military leaders that was supposedly part of a nuclear posture review that Democrats are acting out because they are trying to blunt the success of his tax deal.
Earlier in the day it was Trump, though, who threatened legislation that could prevent a shutdown when he tweeted his dissatisfaction with a provision that renews the government’s health insurance program for children for a period of six years.
House Speaker Paul Ryan argued at a news conference, where he hammered away at Democrats, that Trump supports the legislation the way it is.
The White House also went into damage control mode, sending out another statement in support of the House bill.
At the Pentagon, Trump turned his visit into an opportunity to rail against Democrats holding a longer-term bill that would do away with government-mandated budget caps, freeing up the military to spend all of the money it was authorized to spend by Congress last year.
‘Our military has to be the best in the world, by far. And as you know, it’s been depleted over the last long period of time,’ he said. ‘And when we finish, there won’t be anything like it. We need that now almost more than at any time in the past.’
Trump said then that a shutdown ‘could happen’ and ‘it’s up to the Democrats.’
Ryan insisted soon after at a news conference that Republicans could pass a bill on their own. That did not keep him from beating up Democrats, though, for rejecting a Republican olive branch to extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program for another six years.
Just as Republican leaders in Congress were rounding up the votes on Thursday needed to pass another temporary extension in government funding and prevent a shutdown at week’s end, President Trump undercut their strategy with a demand that CHIP be axed from the bill.
Trump said in a Thursday morning tweet that he does not want the spending plan under development in the House to include a six-year reauthorization of CHIP.
‘CHIP should be part of a long term solution, not a 30 Day, or short term, extension!’ he said.
Not only does the position put him in conflict with his own White House, it threatens to derail his party’s efforts to pass a stop-gap bill once again.
Just as Republican leaders in Congress were rounding up the votes on Thursday needed to pass another temporary extension in government funding and prevent a shutdown at week’s end, President Trump undercut their strategy with a demand that the Children’s Health Insurance Program be axed from the bill
Trump said in a Thursday morning tweet that he does not want the spending plan under development in the House to include a six-year reauthorization of CHIP
Not only does the position put him in conflict with his own White House, it threatens to derail his party’s efforts to pass a stop-gap bill once again
For months, the Republican-controlled Congress has been struggling to reach an agreement to fund the government, which is currently operating on its third continuing resolution since the 2018 fiscal year began on Oct. 1.
Democrats have insisted that a long-term spending bill include protections for ‘Dreamers’ – young adults brought to the country illegally as children who were protected from deportation by former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.
But bipartisan congressional negotiations with the White House faltered last week, prompting Republican leaders to begin pushing for the passage of a stopgap measure to fund the government through Feb. 16.
Already, it was unclear whether the House Republicans would get enough votes to pass the measure in that chamber on Thursday morning.
Then, President Trump then offered his two cents on Twitter.
‘A government shutdown will be devastating to our military…something the Dems care very little about!’ Trump said in a second tweet that blamed the opposing party for the crisis.
Just yesterday, the White House said it supported the passage of a short-term measure to fund the government, although it wasn’t ideal.
‘We do support the short-term CR,’ White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters, referring to the so-called continuing resolution.
‘Let’s make a budget deal by Friday and let’s come back to work aggressively on Monday and make a deal on DACA and responsible immigration reform,’ Sanders added.
A statement of administration policy distributed by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget shortly after explicitly backed the provision reauthorizing CHIP for half a decade.
‘This legislation funds the Federal Government at current spending levels through February 16, providing more time for the Congress and the Administration to reach a longer-term funding agreement,’ the statement said. ‘The Administration supports the bill’s multiyear funding extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).’
It was not clear on Thursday whether Trump understood that his administration had backed the renewal less than 24 hours before.
Republicans hold a slim 51-49 majority in the Senate and most legislation, including spending bills or an immigration deal, will require 60 votes for passage.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate would take up the short-term funding measure as soon as the House approves it.
On Wednesday, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said there was ‘revulsion’ among his colleagues for the stopgap proposal in the House and that an ‘overwhelming number’ would not support it, however.
At least one Republican, Senator Lindsey Graham, who is involved in the immigration negotiations, has also said he would not vote for a short-term funding measure.
Republicans in the House might not have the votes in the House to pass a short-term fix in the first place, given that members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus would prefer additional defense funding.
The group’s leader, Representative Mark Meadows, said on Wednesday evening that while his members disliked the deal, the chances for a shutdown ‘are very unlikely because no one wants one.’
At a presser that competed with Ryan’s, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said that CHIP should have been taken care of months ago.
‘This is like giving you a bowl of doggy doo, put a cherry on top and call it a chocolate sundae. This is nothing,’ she said, grasping for words. ‘We wanted 10 years. We wanted permanent CHIP.’
A blowup over immigration policy has also prevented lawmakers from reaching a long-term deal to keep the government running.
With government funding set to expire at midnight on Friday, McConnell said Congress is ‘not yet ready’ to move ahead with a substantial deal, as he called for passage of the short-term funding bill to kick talks to next month.
Sanders said Thursday that the short-term resolution was ‘not our first choice’ but the White House would support it.
Members of the bipartisan ‘Gang of Six’ group of senators continue to look for a solution to renew DACA protections, fund border security and otherwise forge an immigration compromise, following an extraordinary blowup after President Trump reportedly blasted immigration from ‘s***hole countries.’
The House’s Republican funding measure does not include Democrats’ demands to shield Dreamers.