Trump reins in $5B wall request; other ways than shutdown to get funding, his aide says

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that Democratic lawmakers would not accept a $1 billion “slush fund” for President Donald Trump’s border wall.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that Democratic lawmakers would not accept a $1 billion “slush fund” for President Donald Trump’s border wall.

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump on Tuesday retreated from his demand for $5 billion to build a border wall as congressional Republicans maneuvered to avoid a partial government shutdown before funding expires at the end of Friday.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said on Fox News that there were other ways to secure his demand and deliver on a signature campaign promise -- one that Trump previously said he was willing to shut down the government over.

"The president has asked every agency to look and see if they have money that can be used," Sanders said.

It was a turnaround after days of impasse. Without a resolution, more than 800,000 government workers could be furloughed or sent to work without pay, disrupting government operations days before Christmas.

One option that has been circulating on Capitol Hill would be to approve government funding at existing levels, without a boost for the border, as a stopgap measure to kick the issue into the new Congress next month. The chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., confirmed late Tuesday that his office was preparing legislation to keep government funded, likely into February. The White House preference was for a longer-term package, although the conversation remained fluid, said a person familiar with the negotiations but not authorized to discuss them.

"We want to know what can pass," Sanders said at a news briefing. "Once they make a decision and they put something on the table, we'll make a determination on whether we'll move forward."

The turn of events kick-started negotiations that had been almost nonexistent since last week's televised meeting at the White House, when Trump neither accepted nor rejected the Democrats' offer. They had proposed keeping funding at current levels of $1.3 billion for border security fencing and other improvements, but not for the wall.

The Senate's top Republican and Democratic leaders began negotiating new proposals, and talks were expected to continue.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he was confident there would not be a government shutdown Friday when funding for parts of the government expires.

McConnell said a stopgap measure could be approved, though he suggested Nancy Pelosi, who is poised to become House speaker when the Democrats take control Jan. 3, would not want to saddle the new year with a budget brawl.

"If I were in her shoes, I would rather not be dealing with this year's business next year," McConnell said.

Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer have made it clear they are not interested in funding Trump's border wall.

During a meeting earlier Tuesday on Capitol Hill, McConnell had proposed $1.6 billion for border fencing, as outlined in a bipartisan Senate bill, plus an additional $1 billion that Trump could use on the border, according to a senior Democratic aide unauthorized to speak about the private meeting.

Democratic leaders immediately spurned the proposal. Schumer called McConnell to reject it.

"We cannot accept the offer they made of a billion-dollar slush fund for the president to implement his very wrong immigration policies," Pelosi told reporters. "So that won't happen."

McConnell said he was disappointed that the proposal had been rejected, calling it "a reasonable offer both sides should have been able to accept."

Democrats also rejected the administration's idea of shifting money from other accounts to pay for Trump's wall.

The White House showed its willingness to budge as it became apparent that the president does not have support in Congress for funding the wall at the $5 billion level he wants. Sanders said Tuesday that there are "other ways" to secure the funding.

"At the end of the day, we don't want to shut down the government," Sanders said on Fox News. "We want to shut down the border from illegal immigration."

Sanders pointed to the Senate's bipartisan appropriation measure for the Department of Homeland Security, which provides $26 billion, including $1.6 billion for fencing and other barriers. It was approved by the committee over the summer on a bipartisan vote.

"That's something that we would be able to support," she said, as long as it's coupled with other funding.

But House Democrats largely reject the Senate's bill because it includes 65 miles of additional fencing along the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, the top Democrat on the committee that negotiated the spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security, rebuffed Sanders' claim that other funds could be used to reach the $5 billion mark.

"If you've got that kind of cushion in your budget and you don't need that money, use it to pay down the debt," he said.

"We gave him what he wanted," Tester added, referring to the administration's formal request for $1.6 billion. "He ought to take it."

Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., doubted whether Trump could find a way to fund the wall without Congress signing off on it.

"I still believe in our Constitution, and Congress is the legislative branch," Cardin said "I think our appropriations process restricts the wall, so I don't see how he does it legally."

Republican congressional leaders expressed bewilderment Monday about whether a deal could be reached to continue funding the government past the Friday deadline and what Trump's intentions were.

"I think it will all work out, but I don't know of a specific plan," said Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican, emerging from a meeting of the party's Senate leaders Monday evening.

Asked what the most likely vehicle would be for resolving the impasse, Cornyn said: "Believe it or not, there is no leading contender."

Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the third-ranking Republican, was similarly stumped. Asked what Trump's thinking was about averting a shutdown, he said: "I've not seen any recent revelation on that."

"There are so many permutations of how this could end," Thune added. "At the moment, we're like everybody else, waiting to see if a deal can be struck."

Trump had campaigned on the promise that Mexico would pay for the wall. Mexico has refused.

The standoff dispute could affect nine of 15 Cabinet-level departments and dozens of agencies, including the departments of Homeland Security, Transportation, Interior, Agriculture, State and Justice, as well as national parks and forests.

Shelby expected that a stopgap measure, which would cover the seven appropriation bills for those departments, would pass. "Who would want to shut the government down?" he said.

Congress did pass legislation to fund much of the government through the fiscal year, until Oct. 1. But a partial shutdown could occur at midnight Friday on the remaining one-fourth of the government.

About half of the workers would be forced to continue working without immediate pay. Others would be sent home. Congress often approves their pay retroactively, even if they were ordered to stay home.

Many agencies, including the Pentagon and the departments of Veterans Affairs, and Health and Human Services, are already funded for the year and will continue to operate as usual. The U.S. Postal Service, busy delivering packages for the Christmas season, wouldn't be affected by any government shutdown because it's an independent agency.

Information for this article was contributed by Lisa Mascaro, Matthew Daly, Catherine Lucey and Laurie Kellman of The Associated Press; by Katie Rogers and Emily Cochrane of The New York Times; and by Erica Werner, Damian Paletta, John Wagner, Seung Min Kim and Jeff Stein of The Washington Post.

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AP/J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., joined at left by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the Republican Conference chairman, speaks to reporters about the possibility of a partial government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi not to set up a budget brawl in the new year. “If I were in her shoes, I would rather not be dealing with this year’s business next year,” he said.

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AP/J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to reject the proposal.

A Section on 12/19/2018

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