President Donald Trump is stepping up his rhetoric on the border after he threatened to shut down the government if he didn’t get funding for his wall.
He is pushing for his wall to be built ‘much faster.’
‘We must have Border Security, get rid of Chain, Lottery, Catch & Release Sanctuary Cities – go to Merit based Immigration. Protect ICE and Law Enforcement and, of course, keep building, but much faster, THE WALL!,’ he wrote on Twitter Monday morning.
President Trump is doubling down on his wall after threatening to shut down the goverment
Trump wants his wall built ‘much faster’
Building a border wall was one of the president’s early campaign promises and he has been defensive of his immigration stance since his ‘zero tolerance’ policy got criticism from both sides of the aisle.
Trump’s tweet on Monday lacked something his post on Sunday had – a threat to shut down the government if he doesn’t get his wall.
‘I would be willing to ‘shut down’ government if the Democrats do not give us the votes for Border Security, which includes the Wall! Must get rid of Lottery, Catch & Release etc. and finally go to system of Immigration based on MERIT! We need great people coming into our Country!,’ he tweeted Sunday morning.
His threat opens the door to a politically brutal fall – both in Washington D.C. and on the campaign trail.
And the president could find himself fighting two wars on a double front as members of his own party have said funding the wall could wait until after voters made their choices in November.
‘I don’t think we’re going to shut down the government,’ Republican Rep. Steve Stivers said on ABC’s ‘This Week’ on Sunday. ‘You know, I think we’re going to make sure we keep the government open, but we’re going to get better policies on immigration.’
Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell said on Friday that funding for the wall would ‘probably’ wait until after the midterm elections.
McConnell and Speaker Paul Ryan met with Trump at the White House on Wednesday to work on a plan to avoid a shutdown ahead of the November midterm elections.
Trump made it clear in the meeting he wanted $5 billion to fund his border wall, according to a report in Politico, but he signaled to the congressional leaders he’d be willing to wait until after the midterms.
‘The president’s willing to be patient to make sure that we get what we need so we can that done,’ Ryan said after the meeting, adding that funding the wall was ‘not a question of if, it’s a question of when.’
The U.S.-Mexico border fence is seen at sunset on July 22, 2018 in Nogales, Arizona
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said funding the wall could wait until after November
Trump is threatening to shut down the government if he doesn’t get his wall
Speaker Paul Ryan said funding the wall is a when not an if
But Sunday’s tweet could change things and raises the odds the government will close in October.
Funding Trump’s controversial wall could paralyze budget talks. Estimates say it would take $25 billion to build it. Democrats don’t want to give any kind of down payment without a guarantee for Dreamers, the illegal immigrants who came to the country as children.
Funding for the government runs out at the end of September. A battle over spending could also distract the Senate from confirming the president’s Supreme Court nominee Bret Kavanaugh.
The Senate is working to finish nine of its 12 annual spending bills by the end of this week while the House only passed six of its annual funding bills before it left on its August recess.
The House version of the spending bill includes Trump’s request but Senate Democrats are unlikely to agree to it — meaning any attempt to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which is where the money would come from, could lead to a shutdown.
Trump is trying to kick blame for any shutdown to the Democrats but Republicans control both Congress and the White House, sparking fears a government closure could come back to bite the GOP at the ballot box.